The first documentation of static electricity dates back to 600 BCE. Even after 2,600 years’ worth of tiny shocks, however, researchers couldn’t fully explain how rubbing two objects together causes it.

Study discovered that sliding creates different forces at the front and back of objects. This causes uneven charges and static electricity.

We have known about the phenomenon of static electricity since at least the time of Aristotle. Aristotle credits fellow philosopher Thales of Miletus, who lived between 640 and 546 BCE, with the discovery that amber picks up pieces of dried grass after it has been rubbed with a cloth.

For the first time, scientists explain how rubbing a surface creates electrical current. Researchers at Northwestern University have unraveled the long-standing mystery of why rubbing objects together generates static electricity.

Researchers solve a 2,000-year-old mystery, revealing how friction between surfaces generates electric current through elastic shear.