
Shock in the Shower (1997) - jms
http://www.esdjournal.com/static/shower/shower.html
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userbinator
_The first time a bottle was opened resulted in a discharge approximately 1.5
inches in length from the shampoo to the metallized film cap seal._

The dielectric strength of air is ~3kV/mm. That corresponds to roughly a 114kV
potential. It's a good thing these bottles didn't contain something flammable
like hairspray.

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knodi123
Why don't they name the brand of the shampoo, or the manufacturer? The article
says this problem was observed by customers, so this ought to be public
information... And since this happened 37 years ago, I'm not sure why they
would be worried about libel lawsuits or anything....

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userbinator
_The new shampoo and conditioner product was contained in a very artistically
designed bottle with special graphics on the outside. A national ad campaign
had just started and the distinctive bottle was becoming recognizable._

This description sounds like someone in the US in the 70s might be able to
recall which brand it was.

A quick search also finds someone with a similar experience many years later,
probably different brand since the original manufacturer would've learned to
avoid it:

[http://jayderose.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-shampoo-shocked-
me....](http://jayderose.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-shampoo-shocked-me.html)

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mikestew
There are a couple of problems with pinning it down. First, how much "literary
license" is the author using to describe the bottle? It might be much more
plain and undistinguished than described. Second, it could have been any
number of brands, as funky bottles and labels were not uncommon. Hell, even
the syrup for our pancakes came in a glass bottle shaped like a woman.

That said, if I had to guess I'd offer two candidates that stand out in my
head. First is Farah Fawcett Shampoo. Full color picture of the woman, though
the bottle shape was forgettable. Second is Body on Tap: "made with 33% real
beer", or something like that. I mention it only because the bottle was cone-
shaped ("artistically designed"?), and if the claim is true maybe the beer
adds extra loose electrons, I dunno. Or it very well could have been any
number of shampoos that showed up briefly, didn't sell, and was yanked so fast
even us olde parts who were there don't remember them.

EDIT: or maybe I should read the whole article, as it mentions at the end that
it's still sold, which eliminates my two candidates.

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Drdrdrq
They _were_ still sold in 1997 when the article was written. I don't know the
shampoos you mention though so I have no idea if your candidates were still
being sold back then.

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mrfusion
Could this be used as a new type of battery? It seems to hold way more energy
than a typical capacitor.

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userbinator
You've confused energy with potential (voltage). Despite the potential being
extremely high, the energy is very low. Otherwise these people would not only
be receiving shocks, they'd be burned and/or electrocuted. A capacitor the
size of a typical shampoo bottle can definitely hold a lethal amount of
energy.

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bognition
i'm seeing spam links. me thinks this page was hacked

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RDeckard
Love the 1996-era website design. Loads instantly, no ads, no non-sense.

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curiousjorge
secure as hell too when you are just serving html files.

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Everlag
I'm sorry to inform you that line twelve of that html has a script tag. Here's
the kicker: it's google analytics.

