On a recent visit to Peru, I went to a street market and bought a sweater billed as being made of Alpaca wool. Whenever I take it off, it crackles with static electricity. I had thought that this could not happen with a natural fibre like wool, but would need an insulating material like a synthetic fibre. I am not so naive as to believe that the sweater is pure alpaca, but what proportion of synthetic fibre would it need to produce the crackles I experience?
David Harris, Balhannah, South Australia
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