When a particle impacts on a wall, electrostatic charges may be generated. This is called contact/impact/frictional electrification. One question to be answered is how and what process dominate the amount of the charge. In this respect, the separating process, rather than the contacting one, is important. It is shown that the potential difference between the surfaces can increase so rapidly in the separation process that it can cause gas discharge. Once such a gas discharge takes place, the charge on each surface can relax on the path: the amount of charge after the separation is a kind of residual charge after the charge relaxation. This process has been modeled and the model is called the "charge relaxation model." It can estimate the amount of the impact charge without any empirical parameters, although the gas discharge itself is only an assumption so far which has not been directly observed or confirmed experimentally. In the experimental aspect, an "impact charging experiment" with single particles was carried out to provide a basis for the fundamental discussions. Polymer as well as metal particles about 3 mm in diameter ones were initially used, and the results showed good agreement with the "charge relaxation model." The sensitivity of the instrument was enhanced to allow measurements with 100 mu m micrometer particles. These results are also reviewed here. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.