you can build up the charge on almost anything
could be the type of clothes you're wearing, the carpet in your house etc... if you're wearing rubber soled shoes then you'll get the shock as soon as any charged part of you comes into contact with a grounded object, such as your car.

yo can get round this by creating tinfoil grounding strips that attach to your legs drag along on the ground, ensuring you never build up a charge; you will look like a bit of a 'tard though.
(wiggy5 3 goats and a midget, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:46, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Cars aren't usually grounded though.
The wheels are rubber.
(PsychoChomp, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:47, Reply)

very true, but the negative terminal is attached to carrs bodywork, so you could discharge into that.
The reverse can also be true, where you car builds up the charge and then uses you as a grounding strip. you can get grounding strips for your car from any car type shop
(wiggy5 3 goats and a midget, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:48, Reply)

doesn't happen to anyone else on my car
and I'm fairly sure it's happened on other cars as well

so it must be me, but as I said below, it's been all different sorts of clothes and shoes.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:50, Reply)

Your car's not earthed
but it is a large conductive object which is at a lower potential than you are, if you've been walking around in rubber soled shoes, and with a sufficiently larger capacitance than you, such that when you touch the metalwork, a current flows from you to the car.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:56, Reply)

why should it happen to me loads
and not to other people anywhere near as much. I wear pretty ordinary shoes.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:58, Reply)

It happens to me a lot too
Always has done. I was quite a curiosity at school because of this!

Some people just hold a charge better than others.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:59, Reply)

plus
not to be faectious, but long haired/ bearded people seem to hold a charge better. I've got long hair and I'm pretty much walking static on a hot day
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:01, Reply)

I've got short hair
and am clean shaven for the most part. But I can understand your logic.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:02, Reply)

I get a lot, I put it down to all the shell suits I wear
eh, eh, eh...
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:03, Reply)

so basically what you are saying
is that we are better than most other people?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:12, Reply)

Yes.

( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:13, Reply)

I suspected as much

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:14, Reply)

As an undergraduate
during one afternoon lab, I managed to blow three electronics experiments with my massive static charge.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:16, Reply)

one of my mates
zapped the headphones on a listening station in WHSmith and broke it

I saw the spark. it was awesome.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:25, Reply)

Impressive.

( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:34, Reply)

yeah
on account of our sparky goodnature, shocking sense of humour and grounded personality.

I make no apology
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:14, Reply)

it's been with all different types of clothes
and shoes as well

and has only been happening for the last month or so
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:48, Reply)

Drive naked

(PsychoChomp, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:49, Reply)

last month or so...
has the weather changed in the past month, e.g. sunny and dry?
(wiggy5 3 goats and a midget, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:49, Reply)

it's been pretty sunny and dry for most of the winter
however, the weather is the only thing that seems to correlate with it happening.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:51, Reply)

Damp weather
is more likely to dissipate the charge which you've built up. Low humidity makes for lots of sparks!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:57, Reply)

easiest solution
is to get a grounding strip/strap for your car... you've probably seen then about, they're plastic looking strips that hang down from the rear underside of the car, some have strips of lightning on them.
(wiggy5 3 goats and a midget, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:06, Reply)

Are they the ones with a strip of metal running down the inside?

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:08, Reply)

yeah
sometimes you can find them as just a kind of woven metal thread... but they're way less cool than the plastic lightning strips.
(wiggy5 3 goats and a midget, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:12, Reply)

www.b3ta.com/questions/offtopic/post695299
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:13, Reply)

I can scroll up you know
I just ignored them for being wrong.
(wiggy5 3 goats and a midget, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:18, Reply)

Ignore me, I was being shit again.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:21, Reply)

ha!

( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:26, Reply)

wouldn't it be easier to just say
"look up"
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:20, Reply)

What - and split his infinitive?

( Larry Vest One day at a time, sweet Jesus, FFS., Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:22, Reply)

Much, but less shit.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:23, Reply)