The body's electricity in operation?

[Hazel M]

A question and comment posed by MirceaKitsune in another thread caused me to recall something. Please explain what was going on here.

 

Some years ago, a neighbor set up his old toy train which operated on a track, driven by battery power. He did put in new batteries but the train would not run. I reached out and put one finger on the track in front of the train. It started moving. Whenever I lifted my finger, it stopped; when I replaced my finger, it went.

 

What was going on?

[Acme]

A question and comment posed by MirceaKitsune in another thread caused me to recall something. Please explain what was going on here.

 

Some years ago, a neighbor set up his old toy train which operated on a track, driven by battery power. He did put in new batteries but the train would not run. I reached out and put one finger on the track in front of the train. It started moving. Whenever I lifted my finger, it stopped; when I replaced my finger, it went.

 

What was going on?

Hard to tell from the description. The batteries powered the track, but were not in the train, correct? Did you touch just one side of the track, or was your finger across both tracks at the same time? Did you move your finger because the train hit it? If you put your finger on the track behind the train did it run?

 

I have had model trains where the track was powered and delivered electricity to the motor in the engine. They are quite finicky because corrosion develops quickly on both track and wheels and the corrosion inhibits a good electrical contact. Because the weight of the train is what makes the contact good, it may be that your putting your finger on the track in front of the train depressed the track at your finger and consequently pushed it up where it contacted the train wheels and so made an otherwise bad contact good.

[Hazel M]

It has been so long that I cannot give you a good answer. I don't know where the batteries were. Paid no attention to that. I am not sure, either, how much of the track I touched but do know it was in front of the train. I had to keep moving it as the train approached. The train never touched my finger.

 

I got to wondering, after posting, if it was just a case of what little electricity our bodies have -they do have, don't they? - added the extra power the battery needed. Something else I am remembering. Set a Styrofoam cup on the counter. If I put my fingers on the counter and move toward the cup, it will also move away from my hand. Not much but moves.

 

I'm just loaded with electricity?

[Acme]

It has been so long that I cannot give you a good answer. I don't know where the batteries were. Paid no attention to that. I am not sure, either, how much of the track I touched but do know it was in front of the train. I had to keep moving it as the train approached. The train never touched my finger.

 

I got to wondering, after posting, if it was just a case of what little electricity our bodies have -they do have, don't they? - added the extra power the battery needed. Something else I am remembering. Set a Styrofoam cup on the counter. If I put my fingers on the counter and move toward the cup, it will also move away from my hand. Not much but moves.

 

I'm just loaded with electricity?

The electricity moving the cup is static electricity*, but the electricity moving the train is current electricity. The static charge on your body does not add to the battery or the train.

 

*

Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material. The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge. Static electricity is named in contrast with current electricity, which flows through wires or other conductors and transmits energy.[1]

...

Electrons can be exchanged between materials on contact; materials with weakly bound electrons tend to lose them while materials with sparsely filled outer shells tend to gain them. This is known as the triboelectric effect and results in one material becoming positively charged and the other negatively charged. The polarity and strength of the charge on a material once they are separated depends on their relative positions in the triboelectric series. The triboelectric effect is the main cause of static electricity as observed in everyday life, and in common high-school science demonstrations involving rubbing different materials together (e.g., fur against an acrylic rod). Contact-induced charge separation causes your hair to stand up and causes "static cling" (for example, a balloon rubbed against the hair becomes negatively charged; when near a wall, the charged balloon is attracted to positively charged particles in the wall, and can "cling" to it, appearing to be suspended against gravity). ...

[Hazel M]

I had forgotten static electricity. We used to create static electricity by combing our hair. did it in the dark so we could see the sparks. Thanks for reminder. Been a while.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Hazel M