Just the other day a friend and I were walking through the Pro shop at a local golf course when he touched the door knob and got shocked by static electricity.
He turns to me and says,” Damn, I wish someone would explain that damned static electricity to me.”
(So I did: and here is my explanation - especially for my non-engineering friends .. .. .)
 
Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material.  The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge.  For modelling the effect of static discharge on sensitive electronic devices, a human being is represented as a capacitor of 100 picofarads, charged to a voltage of 4,000 to 35,000 volts.  When the human touches an object, this energy is discharged in less than a microsecond.

Are you still having a little trouble understanding this? If so, the next photo may help.  It is an excellent illustration of static electricity!  I hope this explanation has been helpful.