Conductive and Nonconductive Objects

• If something can conducts electricity then it cannot store static electricity; a metal object will never hold a static charge. Items that hold static electricity include rubber, plastic, nylon and wool, as they are great insulators. Copper is one of the best conductors of electricity, thus it is used in most wires and cables. As plastic is a poor conductor, it is used to cover and protect electrical wires. If there was a static electricity buildup on the plastic covering of a wire it would immediately discharge into the internal copper wire.
  
  

Electrical Imbalance

• Electricity consists of positive and negative electrons. Static electricity energy is an imbalance of electrons collected on an object that can't conduct electricity. It's generally created by friction, such as shuffling your feet on a carpet or brushing your hair using a plastic comb. An electrical charge gets created, but has nowhere to go, until it naturally dissipates or finds a suitable place to discharge, such as a metal object.
  
  

Voltage

• Electricity in your home consists of voltage and amperes. Voltage relates to pressure while amperes are the amount of electricity that flows through the wires. Static electricity is mainly voltage, but the voltage in static electrical buildup is far greater than your home electricity voltage. The reason that static electricity isn't usually dangerous is because it doesn't flow continuously; it takes less a millisecond to discharge, then it's gone. This is why you may experience a short sharp shock if you touch a metal object when you have a buildup of static electricity.
  
  

Lightning

• Lightning is the most powerful example of static electricity. It's created in a similar way to static electricity you may get at home, but on a much larger scale. The static builds up until it has enough energy to discharge by jumping through air and going to ground. The voltage produced by a lightning strike is thousands of volts, but it's not the voltage that's dangerous, it's the power of the electrical spark, which effectively fries an object it lands on in less than a second.