Inductive charging – An invisible Menace

Inductive charging is the natural phenomenon where an isolated conductive object attains a net electrostatic charge when grounded in the presence of an electric field. The act of grounding the object results in a spark discharge between the conductive object and ground. The resulting charged object, if it remains isolated, will hold the charge until grounded again, resulting in a second spark discharge of opposite polarity to the initial electric field.

Inductive charging and resulting discharges have caused one significant and one minor fire in a US military pyrotechnic facility. Experiments have duplicated the accident conditions for both incidents to provide evidence that inductive charging caused the incidents.