Static electric field:

Electrostatics is the branch of science which deals with the phenomena arising from the stationary or slow-moving electric charges. Static electricity is accumulation of the electrical charges on the surface of a material, commonly an insulator or non-conductor of electricity. It is called as "static" as there is no current flowing, as there is in alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) electricity. Electrostatic phenomena include several examples as simple as the attraction of plastic wrap to your hand after you remove it from a package, to the apparently spontaneous explosion of grain silos, to damage of electronic components at the time manufacturing. Although charge exchange occurs whenever any 2 surfaces contact and separate, the effects of charge exchange are usually noticed when at least one of the surfaces has a high resistance to electrical flow. This is because charges which transfer to or from the highly resistive surface are more or less trapped there for a long time for their effects to be observed. These charges then remain on the object until they bleed off to ground or are neutralized quickly by a discharge by the neutralization of charge built up in the body from contact with the nonconductive surfaces.

The presence of surface charge imbalance means that the objects will exhibit repulsive or attractive forces. This surface charge imbalance, which yields the static electricity, can be generated by touching 2 differing surfaces together and then separating them because of the phenomena of contact electrification and the turboelectric effect. Rubbing 2 nonconductive objects generates a great amount of static electricity.

This is not the result of friction; 2 nonconductive surfaces can become charged by being placed one on top of the other. As most surfaces have a rough texture, it takes longer time to achieve charging through contact than through rubbing. Rubbing objects together increases amount of adhesive contact between the 2 surfaces.