Re: How to properly discharge static electricity?

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From: PeterM (rpm_at_NOSPAM.dcn.org)
Date: 12/18/04 

Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 16:54:08 -0800

Wow, I appreciate this article a lot. My grandson will also appreciate it.
It does scare me a little, because now that I understand this a little
better, I will be forever conscious about the grounding and the ESD. What a
smart person you are Sir................Peter

"w_tom" <w_tom1@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:41C36C63.29A40029@hotmail.com...
> The safety grounding wire from cyberguys does not solve your
> static electric problem. IOW a charge generated from shoes
> would still travel up the arm, through a first touched IC,
> then continue out motherboard, through that safety ground
> wire, to eventually complete the electrical circuit to bottom
> of your shoes.
>
> Damage is caused by electricity. Any device that has both
> an incoming and outgoing path will conduct the electricity -
> destructively. Static electric protection is not about
> equalizing charges. It is about dissipating the charged
> capacitor - your shoes. Trying to only equalize charges is a
> recipe for damage. Any discharge path that conducts through
> electronics will be destructive. That safety ground wire does
> not solve static electric problems. Earth ground does not
> address the 'grounding' of static electricity.
>
> Lets look at how our professional workstations are
> constructed. First we put a pink poly plastic sheet on the
> concrete floor. To static electricity, the pink poly is a
> perfect conductor. Then we connect that pink poly sheet to
> the work desk. Anytime the worker touches the desktop, then
> his shoes are completely discharged. Furthermore we put a
> pink poly sheet on top of the desktop and connect that to the
> floor mat. Then workers are connected to the desktop pink poly
> sheet via an antistatic wrist strap. Now a worker need not
> even touch the desktop to be discharged.
>
> Furthermore, anti-static wrist strap must include about 1
> megohm resistor. That resistor is essential to human safety.
> This is an anti-static workstation. We do other things such
> as connect all desktops to the common safety ground. We
> install a humidifier. We eliminate all nylon rugs. We never
> waste money on those anti-static sprays. In some locations,
> we even worse white lab coats that contained conductive
> threads and worried about floor wax. Some linoleum tile floor
> waxes can create static electricity.
>
> Furthermore, a computer sitting on a desktop is not
> electrically isolated. Wood and other desktop materials
> become conductors of static electricity. Trying to protect
> the computer by electrically isolating it is neither feasible
> nor practical.
>
> One additional point. Static electricity is also a tool to
> determine a properly assembled computer. With a computer on a
> glass table top (because the desktop must be that little
> conductive), static electric discharge to the computer on
> every corner when computer is operating. Static electricity
> would travel from human arm, across computer to power cord to
> get back to bottom of shoes. And that computer software must
> never be affected even by a discharge so strong as to create a
> hurt. Only then is the computer properly assembled. Static
> electricity must pass across the computer chassis and yet
> never find a conductive path across motherboard.
>
> Static electricity is a hazard during computer assembly.
> Static electricity is also a power tool to confirm a complete
> and proper assembly. That cyberguys ground wire provides no
> static electric protection AND it could even complete the
> static electric discharge circuit through motherboard ICs.
> Static electricity damages when it has a complete electrical
> circuit - a path both into and out of IC. You must discharge
> the capacitor - your shoes - before touching anything
> electronic. That is what the anti-static wrist strap does.
> That is what touching the computer case (which conducts
> through desk to your shoes) does. Discharge those charges on
> shoes.
>
> PeterM wrote:
>> Many thanks, you guys are so great. At least I have a better
>> understanding of this issue. I will wear a strap from now on, and
>> figure out a way to ground myself. I will check out that device at
>> cyberguys, thanks Jim...........Bless you all for this
>> advise...... Grandpa in CA

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