Arduino 101 Analog input Pulses With no positive Input

Other Hardware Sensors
1

I am semi-knowledgeable but also somewhat inexperienced with electronics, and i could not seem to think of a plausible reason my arduino would be doing this.

The symptoms: My arduino, when plugged into my computer or powered by a wall socket adapter, will read the input of it's analog pins in, what i assume is, a sine wave (for a lack of better words). I assume it is over 50-100 times a second. The highest and lowest values are more extreme when the arduino comes in contact with a solid surface. I fear this might be static damage.

2

You must connect something to an input if you want to read something sensible from that pin.
Arduino inputs are very high impedance, and therefore a 'floating' pin can easilly pick up things like 50hz mains power hum.
Leo..