Static electricity is a common phenomenon. Probably the most dramatic example of static electricity is lightning. Static electricity is responsible for the shock you receive when reaching for a metal doorknob after walking across a rug. It is also responsible for hair clinging to a comb and for the way some synthetic clothes cling to themselves.

      Thales of Miletus (640-546 B.C.) of ancient Greece was the first to observe that when amber was rubbed with a piece of cloth, it attracted light objects. Today we say that as the amber is rubbed, it becomes "electrified" or "electrically charged." The word electricity is derived from the Greek word for amber, elektron. In about 1600, William Gilbert observes that many substances can be electrified. He called these substances "electrics."