[Equipment] Weird light effect

[Rastur]

I sleep in a pitch black room and when I touch my mask I get a flash of light. Is this a normal thing? I figure that the incoming air must generate some kind of static electricity. I sleep on a bed sheet that is electrically grounded. Any thoughts on this?

[justMongo]

Just a guess: Perhaps when you touch the mask, you exert some pressure on the eye; which, in turn, stimulates a rod or cone to trigger an impulse.
Right or wrong, I'd wager it originates in the eye.

[archangle]

Grounded bed sheet? Tell us about that. Why? How? Is it conductive?

As for the flash, close your eyes. Look right. Press gently on the your left eye on the left side through the eyelid. Is the flash of light similar to what you see at night?

[Rastur]

Grounded bed sheet? Tell us about that. Why? How? Is it conductive?

As for the flash, close your eyes. Look right. Press gently on the your left eye on the left side through the eyelid. Is the flash of light similar to what you see at night?

The grounded bed sheets supports "Earthing" "Earthing is the landmark discovery that the disconnect may make us more vulnerable to stress and illness. Contact with the Earth appears to uphold the electrical stability of our bodies and serve as a foundation for vitality and health.

The sheet has conductive wires running through it and a connector that connects either to the ground portion of an electrical socket or a spike you pound directly into the ground. Some hotels are using this.

As for the light flashes, I'm positive it is not generated from my eyes as all I have to do it gently touch my mask, nowhere near my eyes, and the flash occurs. These flashes occur with my eyes open.

[Shastzi]

Maybe it's dark energy?

(jk) I have no clue!

[AlanE]

Some freaky paranormal stuff right there. Your mask must be well sealed from your face. Are you running a humidifier on your xPAP machine?

[justMongo]

Are you near Roswell?

[Rastur]

Some freaky paranormal stuff right there. Your mask must be well sealed from your face. Are you running a humidifier on your xPAP machine?

Yes, I am running a humidifier on my machine. The flashes of light are a bit mysterious as I have not seen anyone else mentioning them. I'm quite sure that I am not losing my mind or that the aliens are going to abduct me but something is going on. I experienced this with both my F&P Simplus mask and my Resmed Airfit F10 mask. It must have something to do with the bedsheets that are gounded or that I just have an electric personality. Either way, it is amusing.

[jcarerra]

I can't resist jumping in on this...as a former engineer and just love technical mysteries.

Think about this a minute...the bed sheet is grounded and thus so is anything touching the sheet SO LONG AS THERE IS CONDUCTIVITY TO THE SHEET WIRES.

Secondly, the mask, hose (with air flow through them <<critical point) are electrically insulated from you, and thus from the grounded sheets, by the "rubber" of the seal. Hence they can be at a different electric potential than YOU.

Indeed, I hypothesize that the air flow is creating a charge on the hose/mask, and when you touch it, it sparks to send that charge, via you and the sheets, to ground, equalizing the potential until the circuit (you) is broken again..

[surferdude2]

jcarerra, I've seen that phenomenon many times when bleeding vapor from some systems that I have worked on in the past. The static charge often builds up to several thousand volts and can snap an arc to ground in excess of one inch. I think that's what is taking place here since the mask and hose may not be sufficiently grounded to prevent that charge buildup. If the well grounded sheet wasn't present (providing a large surface area contact), the charge likely would never be noticed. Prevention would mean either running a ground strap to the hose or else keeping a hand on the hose while it's handling the air flow.

Dude