I'm no electronics expert, but AFAIK in normal situations static electricity has high voltage but very low capacitance. Basically, with the materials and geome

I'm no electronics expert, but AFAIK in normal situations static electricity has high voltage but very low capacitance. Basically, with the materials and geometry involved, there isn't enough charge at 40 kV to cause serious damage -- as the article says, the worst that could happen is the spark starts a fire (which may of course cause a lot of damage and loss of life if it's not put out, but at that point it's no longer an electrical phenomenon).