One evening while changing a fluorescent bulb in my apartment, I
discovered another interesting effect of static electricity.
The air in my apartment was dry, and the electrical charges were
building up frequently, causing long (1" to 0.5") sparks to jump from my
fingers to anything grounded. As I carried a new 16" fluorescent tube
across the carpeted floor to fix the closet light, the
tube flickered in my hands. Furthermore, when I touched the contacts on
the end of the tube to something grounded, the tube illuminated brightly
for a split second.
You can try this at home with any fluorescent bulb. fluorescent bulbs are fragile and can break easily, so be careful.
About the Author: Dan Robinson has been a storm chaser, photographer and cameraman for 33 years. His career has involved traveling around the country covering the most extreme weather on the planet including tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, floods and winter storms. Dan has been extensively published in newspapers, magazines, web articles and more, and has both supplied footage for and appeared in numerous television productions and newscasts. He has also been involved in the research community, providing material for published scientific journal papers on tornadoes and lightning.
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From Dan: Please Read
To my regular readers, I offer my apologies for this heavy-handed notice. Unfortunately it has become necessary, so please bear with me!
Please don't copy/upload this site's content to social media or other web sites. Those copies have been a critical problem for me, seriously harming this site and my photography/storm chasing operation by diverting traffic, viewers, engagement and income. "Credit" and "exposure" does not benefit this site or my operation, rather they threaten my ability to cover my operating expenses. Please read my full explanation for this notice here.
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