system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
eli5: What exactly is a spark, and how does it occur?
gpt
It depends on what kind of spark you're referring to. If you mean the sparks you get from a firework or from striking steel and flint for instance, the spark from a firework is a small mote of burning chemicals and the spark from the steel is a small piece of very hot steel. If you mean a spark like what jumps from your hand to a doorknob and gives you a shock; certain conditions can cause your body to pick up a static charge, essentially loose electrons from the environment. When you touch a conductor, like the metal doorknob, the electrons jump from you to the doorknob, causing a visible (and tangible) discharge.