Here’s why those annoying shocks from static electricity happen

There are many things that make winter bad. It is chilly. It’s night. And for some reason, every time you walk through the cold to touch a doorknob or a car handle, you get a painful shock.

Static electricity is to blame for all of this. According to LiveScience, static electricity is when an electric charge builds up on the surface of an object. Look at this sad story about a boy and his trampoline.

In the gif below, the boy gets more electrons as he jumps up and down and rubs his feet on the trampoline. That’s why his hair stands up straight: the negative charges that are building up in his body want to push against each other.

But when the boy reaches out and touches his dad’s finger, all of the extra electrons that had been building up in his body jump from his finger to his dad’s finger, giving him a painful zap.

The same thing happens when you walk across a room with your feet shuffling on the carpet. Depending on what you wear on your feet, when your feet rub against the carpet, your body either takes or gives up electrons.

So when you reach for the doorknob, millions of extra electrons jump from you to the knob (or from the knob to you), giving you a shock.

According to Weather Network, it’s worse in the winter because cold air can’t hold as much water as warm air can.

Even if you turn up the thermostat, the air being sucked into your home and heated is still the same dry winter air. This is because air at the same temperature in the summer has more moisture.

Because water is a good conductor, the moisture gives the electrons a way to leave your body before they can build up. This makes the static go away in small bursts that you can’t feel, instead of in one painful shock.

You might be able to avoid these shocks in a few ways.

Lifehacker says that putting a humidifier in your home will add some moisture to the air, which will help reduce shocks.

You can also avoid putting things on your feet like wool, leather, and rubber. Because these materials are good insulators, they are more likely to keep an electric charge when you walk on a carpet.

So those charges are more likely to build up in your body and give you a shock when you touch a conductor, like metal.

Bringing something metal with you, like a set of keys, can help get rid of the energy before it gets too strong. Bringing dryer sheets with you is another interesting way to avoid getting an electric shock.

HowStuffWorks says that dryer sheets are helpful when doing laundry because they balance the negatively charged electrons in your clothes (which gather a negative charge from all the loose electrons) with positively charged ions, which stops your clothes from sticking together.

If you’ve picked up too many electrons, dryer sheets will keep them from sticking to you.

So maybe it will always be cold and dark in your winter. But at least it might not be as shocking this time.