Static electricity can produce sparks bright enough to see them in daylight. It can certainly produce sparks visible in a dark room when there is relative motion between things in contact.

Static Electricity Fire Hazards Static electricity can generate sparks, and sparks could cause an explosion in the wrong setting. However, this charge must be energetic enough to start a fire. If the spark touches dust, fumes, or other vapors, that can be enough to cause a fire.

The blanket rubbing against the hair on your head rapidly separates large amounts of electrical charge. The charges collect on your body and inside of the blanket in front of you. When the charges reach a critical voltage level, the air between your fist and the blanket ionizes (breaks down) and a spark jumps.

It’s static electricity. You’re seeing the sparks from the discharges, they should look blue/white colored. To expand on this: Why does static discharge create this bright light? When there is a difference in electrical charge in an object compared to its surroundings, it creates a field based on its charge.

Potential and kinetic energy Just as you can turn potential energy into kinetic energy (for example, by letting a bolder roll down a hill), so you can turn static electricity into current electricity (that’s what a lightning bolt does) and back again (that’s how a Van de Graaff generator works).

Electric current is the movement of electrons through a wire. Electric current is measured in amperes (amps) and refers to the number of charges that move through the wire per second. Voltage is sometimes called electric potential and is measured in volts.

Lightning is caused by a buildup of static electricity inside a storm cloud. Moving around inside the cloud are tiny water molecules called hydrometeors. These hydrometeors are colliding and bumping into each other—creating a static electric charge.

Electrons can jump from one cloud to another. Because of this, some of the clouds can develop large positive or negative electrical charges. These opposite charges are strongly attracted to each other. Lightning is the most powerful form of static electricity you can experience.

Statistically, lightning is the most commonly experienced weather hazard. If you live in a very tall home, have trees taller than your home less than 10 feet away from its structure, or live in an area with a high lightning strikes, however, installing a lightning rod is recommended. …