Scientists have recently discovered a new source of corrosion that we didn't know about, and it comes from thunderstorms and friction.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany found that water carrying an electrical charge can puncture the protective coating on copper and gold in a laboratory.

The electricity comes from expected places like a thunderstorm, but static electricity created by friction plays a role, too.

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They found that water droplets that rolled down a surface as simple as a leaf or as complex as quartz gained a charge that damaged coated metals. This damage did not occur when water droplets were neutralized.

It is well known that acids or pollutants cause corrosion, but this new study suggests clean water with just a charge can do the same damage.

We should be clear that this was a study carried out in a laboratory, and we don't know yet how much this process occurs in the real world.

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Scientists could soon quantify how often this occurs to provide better guidance to architects, vehicle builders, roofers and those who create protective coatings for metal to limit damage going forward.

Charged drops "also occur in industrial processes such as electrostatic spraying, inkjet printing and reactions in chemical and pharmaceutical production," according to the authors.

That means that this source of corrosion could be happening in factories or daily use, too.

Don't be surprised if how we look at corrosion and the metal coatings that we use in the coming years changes.