There’s a shocking lack of understanding of the physics underlying this commonplace phenomenon, but researchers are on the ...

Learn more about the nearly invisible layer of carbon that may control how dust grains become electrically charged and how ...

The familiar phenomenon has puzzled researchers for centuries, but experiments are finally making sense of its unruly ...

If you’ve ever felt a shock after rubbing your hair with a balloon or shuffling across a carpet, you’ll know that static ...

A volcano is an opening in the Earth's crust that allows molten rock, gases, and debris to escape from below the surface. The ...

Two microscopic grains collide and produce a tiny spark. This phenomenon may have provided the energy to kick off life on ...

Seemingly random charging of identical materials depends on the carbonaceous molecules stuck to their surfaces ...

When particles in volcanic ash cloud rub together, some pick up positive charge and others negative – now physicists have ...

A defibrillator delivers up to 1,000 volts. An electric chair, about 2,000. A lightning bolt: 100 million. But because the ...

The odds of being struck by lightning in America in a given year are one in 1.2 million. How does the experience reorient a ...