Nasa robot rover shows that sparks fly in dust storms on Mars

By Martin Fullekrug, Reader, Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Bath
Blair McGinness, Postdoctoral research assistant, meteorology, University of Reading
Karen Aplin, Professor of Space Science and Technology

Sometimes you get a small electric shock from touching your car door handle on a dry summer’s day.

The source of these shocks is a spark discharge, occurring between your body and the body of the car. These sparks happen from accumulation of static electric charge – often arising from two different materials rubbing together. This process – named triboelectric charging – was discovered in ancient Greece, where it was observed that some materials are attracted by amber when rubbed.

Triboelectricity…

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