Stand-up Broomedy

Leo Deis is a man perplexed by odd broom behaviour. The 76-year-old from Regina, Canada witnessed his broom strand up straight on its britles without support for 45 minutes.

“We were in shock when it actually stood there,” says Deis. “I took a lot of physics and chemistry at one time in my life and this is new to me.”

Deis feels that a solar flare might be the cause. Solar flares can caused problems with, among other things, power grids, satellites, GPS systems and simple electronic devices.

But George Lolos, a physics professor at the University of Regina, thinks otherwise. For Lolos, it’s all about static electricity, with electric charge building up on the surface of the broom.

In order to test his static electricity hypothesis, Lolos suggested that Deis touch the bristles of his broom to see if he would get a shock. But Deis got no shock and noted that the broom was standing by itself for a couple of minutes at a time.

“It’s just fascinating,” say Deis.

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