Static cling
Encyclopedia
Static cling is the tendency for light objects to stick (cling) to other objects owing to static electricity
Static electricity
Static electricity refers to the build-up of electric charge on the surface of objects. The static charges remain on an object until they either bleed off to ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge. Static electricity can be contrasted with current electricity, which can be delivered...

. It is common in clothing, but occurs with other items, such as the tendency of dust to be attracted to, and stick to, plastic items.

Cause and prevention

In clothing, static cling occurs from static electricity, which is usually due to rubbing as in a clothes dryer
Clothes dryer
A clothes dryer or tumble dryer is a household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing and other textiles, generally shortly after they are cleaned in a washing machine....

 (the triboelectric effect
Triboelectric effect
The triboelectric effect is a type of contact electrification in which certain materials become electrically charged after they come into contact with another different material and are then separated...

). It is especially noticeable when humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...

 is low, allowing static electricity to build up. Certain substances can reduce static cling and are often included in fabric softener
Fabric softener
Fabric softener is used to prevent static cling and make fabric softer. It is available as a liquid, crystals and dryer sheets.- Varieties :...

 and dryer sheets. Antistatic agent
Antistatic agent
An antistatic agent is a compound used for treatment of materials or their surfaces in order to reduce or eliminate buildup of static electricity generally caused by the triboelectric effect. Its role is to make the surface or the material itself slightly conductive, either by being conductive...

s, which make the surfaces slightly conductive
Electrical conductor
In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is a material which contains movable electric charges. In metallic conductors such as copper or aluminum, the movable charged particles are electrons...

, can be used on fabrics.

Electronic devices

See also: Thermal management of electronic devices and systems
Thermal management of electronic devices and systems
Heat generated by electronic devices and circuitry must be dissipated to improve reliability and prevent premature failure. Techniques for heat dissipation can include heatsinks and fans for air cooling, and other forms of computer cooling such as liquid cooling....

 and Computer cooling
Computer cooling
Computer cooling is required to remove the waste heat produced by computer components, to keep components within their safe operating temperature limits.Various cooling methods help to improve processor performance or reduce the noise of cooling fans....



Dust accumulation caused by static cling is a significant issue for computers and other electronic devices with heat generating components that need to be cooled by airflow. Dust is carried into the computer by the airflow created by case- and component fans
Computer fan
A computer fan is any fan inside, or attached to, a computer case used for cooling purposes, and may refer to fans that draw cooler air into the case from the outside, expel warm air from inside, or move air across a heatsink to cool a particular component...

. The accumulated dust covers metal surfaces and clogs the empty space between the fins of heatsinks, diminishing the dissipation of heat and interrupting the outward flow of warm air. Especially for critical components such as microprocessors
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...

 and memory banks
Memory Bank
A memory bank is a logical unit of storage in electronics, which is hardware dependent. In computer the memory bank may be determined by the memory access controller and the CPU along with physical organization of the hardware memory slots....

, this raises the risk of them overheating which can ultimately damage or destroy them. To compensate, automatically controlled fans will raise their speed, generating more noise and shortening their lifespan. An additional risk is the (small) electrical conductivity of dust which, given enough accumulation of dust, can cause critical damage to the device's internal components. Dust accumulation grows exponentially, since the accumulated dust creates new static surfaces and physical bloccades for new dust to cling to.

In advertising

Advertisers in urban areas, eager to use guerilla marketing techniques, have turned to static cling as a distribution medium. In an advertising campaign for Microsoft's MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

 8 Internet service, on October 24, 2002, hundreds of decals of the MSN butterfly logo were affixed to surfaces in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

and held there with static cling.
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