Jonathan McRae

Future Proof Extra with Jonathan McRae.

Proudly supported by Research Ireland on Newstalk.

Welcome back to Future Proof on Newstalk.

I'm Jonathan McRae.

Now, if you've been listening to this program at all over the last 15 years, you'll know that electricity is not my strong point.

But static electricity is just about simple enough for me to get my head around.

We all understand that if I rub a balloon against my hair, charge will be exchanged and the balloon will stick to things afterwards because of the difference.

Now, I'm just reading this from a script.

I don't understand it.

We're going to have to start with the very beginnings.

But it's quite interesting, actually.

Scott Y. Toukaitis is assistant professor at the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria in Klosterneuberg.

Klosterneuberg, sorry.

That is quite the title, Scott.

You're very welcome.

Let's start off, because actually static electricity is not as simple as people might think.

But I really struggle with everything when it comes to electricity.

It seems like magic to me.

What happens when I get an electric shock?

Okay, so to stop there, because you're going to have to hold my hand all the way through this, I'm afraid.