wall of weird: Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction

[anotheranon]

D. found this - I couldn't make this up:

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.

Jaysus - how the hell must he have been walking to work up that much static?? Swinging arms wildly side to side, deliberately scraping his sweater on his jacket...

See!! This is why you should always choose natural fibers!

Comments

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

Nah, just a bad combo of shoes and carpet. Swinging his arms would have just accumulated voltage between his arms and torso, which would then just go away, since bodies are conductive.