[charli (OP)]

Listener Matt was wondering about electrical fields:

"When my wife is holding her iPhone and it's charging, if I touch her arm I can feel a vibrating/tingling sensation from the mains. As soon as she unplugs the phone or puts it down, the tingling stops.

Last week I was in a field near an electricity pylon with my son, and when I held his hand I felt the same thing!
Am I unusual in feeling this?

Was something dangerous when we were in the field?"

[evan_au]

my wife is holding her iPhone and it's charging, if I touch her arm I can feel a vibrating/tingling sensation

There are several kinds of electrical faults that may provide this sensation.
- Some of these faults can be very dangerous (eg an insulation breakdown in the charger to the active line of the AC mains).
- If you can measure an AC Voltage between the case of the iPhone and Earth while the iPhone is charging (but not when the iPhone is unplugged from the charger), it is probably time to replace your charger...

near an electricity pylon with my son, and when I held his hand I felt the same thing!

There can be quite high electrical fields under a high-voltage electrical pylon, so this one is more explainable.
- Some people have taken gas discharge tubes under high-voltage lines, and claimed to see them glow! (But you would need to be away from street lights...)

...or maybe you are just excited by human contact after COVID isolation!