History Main / StaticElectricity

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, Ponder Stibbons and his Witch daughter speculate that some forms of magic operate rather like flashes of generated static electricity; things or people not intrinsically magic in themselves might be "charged" with magic in the way you can, for instance, see a blue flash when pulling on a sweater in a dry dark room, or else when the equivalent of amber rubs up against the equivalent of hair. More durable longer-lasting magical abilities or attributes depend on a sort of direct surrent plugged into the disc's magical standing wave; but induced effects of this sort can last for just long enough.

So you're minding your own business and then you're about to touch something and then ZAP! You're in for a [[{{Pun}} shock]][[note]]For the curious, there's a way to (mostly) avoid this, or at least the pain of it. Static shocks hurt because they are usually delivered to the fingers, especially the tips, as you reach for a door handle or some other object. The tips of your fingers are a small area, concentrating the discharge, as well as having lots of nerves for your sense of touch, so it hurts a lot. The solution is to turn your hand around and brush the back of your hand or knuckles against the handle/object. This offers a larger discharge surface, as well as one with much less sensitivity[[/note]].

* Weaponized by Akira Otoishi in ''Fanfic/IronTouch'', where he [[spoiler: converts all the electricity inside a plane to static electricity ''while it's still airborne,'' keeping them stuck to a plane like a balloon to the side of someone's head]] in Chapter 19.

* In ''Film/OfficeSpace'', Peter gets a static shock every day when he comes into work touching the door handle. One way [[spoiler: it illustrates his changed self is that he comes in one day with a power screwdriver and removes the handle, which shows he's taken control of his life]].

* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', Master Hand weaponizes this in a CombinationAttack with Crazy Hand to perform a ShockAndAwe attack. [[spoiler: He also does this attack to break a hole in reality in World of Light.]]

* ''Manga/LuckyStar'': One skit has the girls getting shocked by static electricity from the handle to their classroom door. Kotata is apparently unaffected, and Kagami half-jokingly suggests it's because [[OtakuSurrogate Konata]] spends so much time around electronics. Then we see Konata's dad get in on the act.

* On ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', one of Brain's plans is to build a giant dryer that will create enough static cling to trap everyone in their own clothes.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': Edd demonstrates the concept to Ed, who of course takes it too far. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyrzaoxgpwc Zapity Zap Zap!]]