I tried looking it up, but all I can find are articles about charging batteries
I work at a printers. We have an issue related to static electricity in the paper. We’ve tried a humidifier, to limited effect. I remembered hearing about batteries being able to absorb static electricity, so I tried running some AA batteries over the paper, both a charged one and a depleted one. It seemed to work, but I didn’t have time to verify my results.
(To be clear, my work isn’t dependent on this post in any way, and I’m not on the hook for anything. I’m just playing around with dirty solutions until the technicians arrive.)
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What you need is a way to ground the paper, antistatic brush will likely work
Anything conductive can be used. You have static charge at the top of a non conductive surface, the charge will get on conductive surface and spread over it.
At some point your metallic device will be charged to quite a voltage – that’s how electrostatic machine works.
Back to your problem – a grounded wire will work the best.
There are ion emitting units designed to solve exactly this problem. “Static eliminator” is a common name. Exair and Keyence are two brands I know of. There are many of these products, though.
The ions released into the air make the environment conductive enough that static charge on your product (paper) discharges into the air. It’s dry, clean, and effective.
https://www.keyence.com/products/static/ionizer/
Radioactive batteries would work great. Well, radiation works great. The battery is just extra steps and worse performance.
The battery probably works because it’s conductive and you are touching it. In absolutely no way does a battery “absorb” extra static electricity. Even a rechargeable one will absolutely not work this way.
If static electricity is a buildup of electrons or electron holes in a material, then a battery is not a source or sink for either. A battery is more like an electron pump, it moves then from one end to the other, through a circuit.
You’ll want something that is conductive, and even better if it’s grounded. Radiation or ions (or flame…) work because they make the air and stuff more conductive and so the charges can all dissipate faster. Or something mechanical, like a conductive brush or comb.
A block of steel would work just as well. What you need is a conductive mass that can absorb your static potential in relation to ambient.
Even better if grounded.
A piece of steel sized as a battery will be exactly as effective.