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When I was last working on the highway, I stopped to help a motorist parked under high tension power lines. I'm driving a large Ford Transit van, fairly box shaped. My van was parked 90 degrees (perpendicular) to the direction of the power lines and 100' below them. After I had concluded with the motorist, I returned to my vehicle and touched the metal of my van, and was greeted with a couple light shocks from the metal. I decided to probe this phenomenon some more, put my entire hand flat on my van, with no shock, but moving my hand across the metal results in a very strong "vibrating" feeling.

I've also experienced this with smaller electronics at times, including the original metal backed iPod and some laptops.

I understand that the cause of the phenomenon is induction to myself and the vehicle, both positioned 100 feet below the power lines, but what I don't understand is the actual interaction between my hand and the metal, and why it feels like a vibrating feeling. Intuitively, I understand the electricity is transmitted as AC with a cycle of 50 or 60 Hz depending on locale, and the vibrating feeling matches that cycle, but physics-wise, why does my hand feel like it is vibrating when I run it across this surface?

-- Note: I'm not looking for answers about the cause of the induction. I'm looking for answers regarding why the skin responds the way it does to this.

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  • $\begingroup$ Touching the mains in one's home gives the same feeling. I've got a good experience on that. $\endgroup$
    – Wrichik Basu
    Commented Feb 10, 2018 at 14:29
  • $\begingroup$ Have a look at this similar question. $\endgroup$
    – Wrichik Basu
    Commented Feb 10, 2018 at 14:31
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    $\begingroup$ Wrichik, I looked at the similar question, but there were only people making conjectures that the cause might be mechanoreceptive nerve endings interacting with the electric field directly, but there's no direct, scientifically backed, answer on that article to answer the question fully about why the skin picks up this feeling the way it does. $\endgroup$
    – Angela M.
    Commented Feb 11, 2018 at 12:47
  • $\begingroup$ Hmm, I also searched quite a bit, but without success. $\endgroup$
    – Wrichik Basu
    Commented Feb 11, 2018 at 12:53
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    $\begingroup$ Why does this have a close vote? It is only unclear if you have never felt this sensation. $\endgroup$
    – N. Virgo
    Commented Feb 16, 2018 at 7:56

2 Answers 2

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It's apparently called Electrovibration

I think it is caused by a charge being induced in your finger that flips 60 times per second (with 60Hz AC) and then repels and attracts your finger at this rate.

I don't fully understand it still, but I found a bit of information you can start with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrovibration

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2020.0783

Apparently they researched it to try give touch screens a haptic feedback. Truly fascinating!

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We have all just pulled under powerlines and had the same vibrations on the surface of the skin.

Like the vibration on a violin with a bow running across.

It is EMI electronic magnetic interference.

Picking up eletric feom the air ang ( you ) bringing it to ground

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    $\begingroup$ Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. $\endgroup$
    – Community Bot
    Commented May 28, 2023 at 22:05
  • $\begingroup$ What does "eletric feom the air ang" mean? $\endgroup$
    – PM 2Ring
    Commented Jul 3, 2023 at 10:17

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