Just starting electrostatics, my class came across the "textbook" (Giancoli) explanation that when the humidity is high, polar water molecules transport electrons to or from charged objects, discharging them. I remember learning sometime in my 33 years of teaching that you can prevent this discharge by cleaning the objects before charging them, implying that salts on their surfaces become conductors by absorbing (adsorbing?) water from the air on a humid day. Has anyone actually studied this phenomenon or know of any good references? My own experience is that the cleanliness matters more than the humidity.
Skip