I know that was a horrible pun, but in truth besides all those 3rd grade science experiments you did in elementary school static electricity can be extremely useful.

I think the most interesting application of static electricity was its use in reducing carbon emission. You see large factories would use the basic idea of static electricity in their smokestacks to reduce pollution into the atmosphere. They do this in a pretty ingenious way, first they have an electrically charged metal grid that all the smoke and pollutants pass through. As they pass through the grid many of the small particles become electronically charged. When these particles go higher up the smokestack they then pass by charged collecting plates. The charged particles stick to the oppositely charged collecting plates and are then able to be gathered together and disposed of separately instead of having them be shot into the sky where they will wreak havoc on the environment.

Another interesting application of static electricity is found in painting cars! What many painters will do is after preparing there car for painting they will charge their paint up with an electrical charge. Then when they spray the paint on the car it sticks better and also is more evenly distributed as the charges want to separate themselves in an even manner. In doing so the painter gives a finer, smoother finish on the car they are painting.

So it seems that 3rd grade lesson is actually pretty important especially if you want to reduce carbon emission or paint a car!

With that I will leave you off with a picture of a peer of mine who's cat went through static electricity.