OK, physics nerds, here’s your chance for glory. I tossed an empty fun-size Milky Way wrapper on the floor, but instead it stuck to a book on a nearby shelf. It is hanging there purely by the power of static electricity, not because it’s got sticky chocolate residue on it:

How long will it stay there? I want no excuses about not knowing what the weather is like or how much the wrapper weighs or precisely what kind of paper the publisher used for the book jacket for Quicksilver. I just want educated guesses on this question that’s of critical importance to ordinary citizens. What do you say?

My brother weaseled out by claiming it was “really more of an engineering question.” I hope I can expect better from my readers.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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