Eli5 What was the static on a CRT TV screen and how did it get there?

Question

I was talking to my brother the other day about what kids these days well never experience and this topic came up.

I remember as a kid I liked to brush my hand on the tv screen so I could feel the fuzzy air. What was that and why was it there?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Some of the static is your TV picking up [cosmic background radiation leftover from the big bang!](https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/cobe_background.html#:~:text=The%20Big%20Bang’s%20Playing%20on%20TV&text=Microwaves%20are%20a%20low%2Denergy,before%20the%20days%20of%20cable.)