# electricity in human body **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-in-human-body/143555 "2002-12-18T15:05:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bc8723/32.png) [@Diana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diana)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-in-human-body/143555/1 "2002-12-18T15:05:44Z")
i been botherd by having a considerable amount of electricity i been producing every where i go everything i touch seems to be electrical even when i am standing on the sidewalk which i dont understand why i would have so much electricity surrounding me this only started a couple years ago after my dad died could stress be causing this if anyone has a logical answer to my problem i sure would like to hear it cause this is bugging me. thanks ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-in-human-body/143555/2 "2002-12-18T15:24:48Z")
If you keep getting ‘zapped’ when you touch things, then it’s probably your clothes, your shoes and the surfaces you’re walking on/brushing against/sitting on that is generating it, rather than your body. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-in-human-body/143555/3 "2002-12-18T15:41:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diana \* > \*\*i been botherd by having a considerable amount of electricity i been producing every where i go everything i touch seems to be electrical even when i am standing on the sidewalk which i dont understand why i would have so much electricity surrounding me this only started a couple years ago after my dad died could stress be causing this if anyone has a logical answer to my problem i sure would like to hear it cause this is bugging me. > thanks \*\* Well per Mangetout it could be simply that your clothing and footwear preferences and your type of carpet, and indoor humidity level etc predispose you to get static shocks. If you are getting static shocks on an outdoor sidewalk as a matter of course I would looka t chaning my shoes sole material and clothing material. Stress has nothing to do with making the body more of less predisposed to being shocked. You are basically a big bag of water covered with protein electricallly and that is not going to change whether you are stressed or not. ---
**Author:** ![Diana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bc8723/32.png) [@Diana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diana)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-in-human-body/143555/4 "2002-12-18T16:42:01Z")
does the human body contain or produce electricity of any kind? ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-in-human-body/143555/5 "2002-12-18T18:28:42Z")
According to the [Ask A Scientist Biology Archive](http://newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bio99/bio99800.htm), electrical potential in our nervous system is not the result of flowing electrons, but of the movement of charged ions. I don’t think there’s any connection between the electrical potential in our nerves and static charges on our bodies. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-in-human-body/143555/6 "2002-12-18T18:31:47Z")
Did annbody else run out of breath reading the OP? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-in-human-body/143555/7 "2002-12-18T18:42:54Z")
BTW, welcome to the SDMB. Just out of curiosity, I googled on electric eels, to see how they generate electricity. Most of the sites I found had overly simplified info. But the back 80% of the eel is made up of adapted muscles containing hundreds of thousands of electrocytes, connected in series. [http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Electrophorus&speciesname=electricus](http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Electrophorus&speciesname=electricus)