# Stupid as kids are **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 31, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-as-kids-are/165350 "2003-03-31T02:55:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bozotexino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@bozotexino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bozotexino)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-as-kids-are/165350/1 "2003-03-31T02:55:24Z")
When I was about 8 or 9 years old my brother told me that if you stuck a pencil in the wall socket it would look like a 4th of july sparkler. He was right, I went flying across the room. The lights went out in 3 rooms. My mother wailed his ass. But yet, I saw the sparkles. I’m 47 now and I’ll never trust my brother again. ---
**Author:** ![Searching\_For\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Searching\_For\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Searching_For_Truth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-as-kids-are/165350/2 "2003-03-31T03:07:37Z")
Good thing YOU didn’t look like a 4th of July sparkler. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-as-kids-are/165350/3 "2003-03-31T03:15:57Z")
How does a pencil do that? Unless it’s a U shaped pencil and you stuck both ‘prongs’ in both holes? Sticking a straight pencil into a socket does not create a circuit at all, let alone a short one. Isn’t some kind of circuit needed for anything at all to happen? Or is my knowledge of electricity flawwed? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-as-kids-are/165350/4 "2003-03-31T07:36:30Z")
Well, it creates a circuit to ground through the holder of the pencil. The danger of this would depend on the resistances involved in a pencil, the clothing, the skin, clothes, and housing materials. But I’m no electrician. ---
**Author:** ![Mechanical\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@Mechanical\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mechanical_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-as-kids-are/165350/5 "2003-03-31T07:48:49Z")
Technically, If you ONLY held the wood part, you would see no sparks or flying bodies. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-as-kids-are/165350/6 "2003-03-31T16:33:07Z")
Heh. We played “Hide The Key” at my cousin’s house when we were kids. I have no idea how they put the key in the socket, but darned if I wasn’t the one to pull it out. And fly across the room like a scene out of the Matrix. It wasn’t pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![bozotexino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@bozotexino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bozotexino)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-as-kids-are/165350/7 "2003-04-01T00:03:24Z")
The house was a converted schoolhouse. all the wallsockets were 2 prong old style and I was the ground. The first socket I stuck it into nothing happened. But the other one was “old lightning”. My brother still laughs at this story since I wasn’t hurt and he got his ass whipped. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-as-kids-are/165350/8 "2003-04-01T02:17:17Z")
Graphite is an excellent conductor. I remember making pencil line circuit cards in a basic electronics class in high school many years ago. And most old timers can tell you what happens when you use a pencil inside the distributor cap of a car.