• Question: I was holding a DVD player and it wasn't pluged in but when I turned it on I got an electric shock. how did that happen?

    Asked by 284kvna44 to David, Colin, Caoimhe on 9 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: David Taylor

      David Taylor answered on 9 Nov 2014:

      Ouch! Sorry to hear that. I don’t really know why that happened. Could it be static electricity? You can get a build-up of static electricity from things made of plastic, then when you touch them you make a path for the electric charge to run to earth – through you!

    • Photo: Colin Keogh

      Colin Keogh answered on 9 Nov 2014:

      It was most likely a static shock, the same thing as shock you can get off door knows, hand rails etc. A small electric charged built up in the player, and when you touched it you gave the charge a path to the ground, giving you a little shock.

      When i build 3d printers, they use delicate electronics which would be ruined by static shocks, so i have to wear an earthing strap. This is like a bracelet which pulls static electricity out of my body.

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