Tag Archive for 'Static electricity'

Sam J. England & Daniel Robert found that some terrestrial animals can detect the electric field emanating from their electrostatically charged predators and use this sense to initiate defensive behaviors. These photographs show four species investigated in the study: (A) the caterpillar of the cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) assuming a defensive coiling posture; (B) the caterpillar of the scarce vapourer moth (Telochurus recens) assuming a defensive coiling posture; (C) the caterpillar of the European peacock butterfly (Aglais io), midway through a defensive flailing motion; (D) the predatory common wasp (Vespula vulgaris). Image credit: Sam J. England & Daniel Robert, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2322674121.

Caterpillars Can Detect Predatory Wasps by Static Electricity They Emit, Study Suggests

May 24, 2024 by News Staff

Predatory wasps are charged, thus emit electric fields, and that caterpillars respond to such fields with defensive behaviors, according to new research...

Harper et al. demonstrate that the addition of external water simultaneously suppresses surface charging and clumping of ground coffee and results in notably different flow dynamics in espresso formats, likely yielding markedly different taste profiles and more concentrated extracts. Image credit: Harper et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2023.11.005.

Grinding Coffee with Addition of Water Reduces Static Electricity, Researchers Say

Dec 6, 2023 by News Staff

Coffee grinding produces large quantities of static charge due to both fracturing and rubbing. Charge causes particle aggregation and discharge, a familiar...

Zhang et al explained the enigmatic phenomenon of triboelectricity and why it occurs. Image credit: Alexandre Dulaunoy / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Researchers Uncover Cause of Triboelectric Charging

Apr 26, 2019 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Curtin University, the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales has demonstrated that the breaking...

Snow-TENG: (a) harnessing and sensing biomechanical movements by attaching a snow-TENG to different locations of the human body; (b) measurement of the electrical output from a snow-TENG device that uses a snowfall mode when attached on the (i) shoulder, (ii) wrist, and (iii) knee; (c-i) a photograph of the snow-TENG device assembled and attached to the bottom of a snow boot as a self-powered biomechanical sensor; (c-ii) electrical outputs from the snow-TENG as the wearer performs different movements -- running, jumping, walking, and marching. Image credit: Ahmed et al, doi: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.03.032.

Researchers Develop Snow-Based Energy Harvester

Apr 16, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from the United States, Canada, Egypt and Ireland has developed a snow-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that...