Armstrong Effect

Static electricity is produced through friction when fluids like steam pass through nozzles, a phenomenon discovered in 1840 when an engine driver felt sparks while touching a steam valve at a coal mine in England. William Armstrong, a solicitor and amateur scientist, investigated the effect with colleagues and Michael Faraday, eventually creating increasingly larger sparks and developing the Armstrong hydroelectric machine in 1843, which generated static electricity rather than hydroelectric power despite its name.