I have started experiencing electric shocks when I touch my light switches, taps and radiator.
These even happen at night where, sometimes, I think it might be a heart attack. I am 83 with a pacemaker and COPD. Can you help me?
Sylvia Turner, Rowley Regis, Warley.
First, let me reassure you that the alarming electric shocks are nothing to do with your pacemaker or your heart.
What you are describing is static electricity, something taught in physics lessons and clearly demonstrated by that old party trick of rubbing the balloon on a sweater and then watching it stick to the wall, held there by static electricity.
It is caused by the imbalance of the electric charges on different surfaces — this is not the same as the electrical current that flows through wires, such as to a lightbulb, kettle, or even your pacemaker.
Static charge builds up when two surfaces come into contact and at least one has a high resistance to electric current, e.g. an insulator.
An insulator is a material where charged particles don't flow freely, for instance rubber soles on shoes.
I have started experiencing electric shocks when I touch my light switches, taps and radiator, a pensioner tells DR MARTIN SCURR
A conductor, meanwhile, allows electricity to pass through it easily, for example a metal tap.
When the two materials separate, small particles called electrons gravitate to the conducting material (because this pulls them more strongly) or, when the materials are both insulators, whichever has the strongest affinity for negative charge.
This material becomes negatively charged, the other becomes positively charged, and you create static electricity.
For some reason you are building up a charge, probably created by your shoes, clothing or carpet (synthetic materials can make the problem worse because the molecules carry lots of loose electrons, which are negatively charged).
When you touch a conductor — e.g. your tap, radiator or light switch — you experience the discharge of the static build-up that you have been carrying. This is not dangerous, although it may be alarming.
Humidity in the atmosphere helps to prevent this, as moisture allows the free movement of electrons, so static is more likely to build up in a dry home (often from central heating).
Static electricity is also much less likely in the summer, when you can have all the windows open so the air is not so dry. Removing shoes could prevent the experience, too.
The other thing you can do is discharge any static you have built up on yourself.
Every now and then, touch a coin to a tap: the particles stuck to you will flow away through the metal coin, and there will be no shock.
I can reassure you that neither your pacemaker nor your heart could have caused this response.
Certain pacemakers are designed to cause a (considerable) shock to restart the heart to prevent a cardiac arrest; other types use only a small voltage to maintain a normal heartbeat, but this is too small for the patient to feel anything.
It seems very clear to me that the cause of your experience is static electricity.
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