Static Electricity Static electricity is electricity at rest, which is an accumulation of electric charge. This source of energy is the opposite of moving electric charge, known as electric current. It is part of the study of phenomena resulting from electric charge, called electrostatics. Electrostatics is actually one of the foundations of knowledge about electricity. Static electricity is clearly the oldest known form of electricity. The earliest understandings of static electricity date back to experimenting by the Greeks in 600 BC. In fact, the word electricity comes from the Greek word elektron, meaning “amber”. By the