[SOLVED] Discharged to my Pc?

[Jaydeesus]

Is my pc fine if I touch my case and feel a shock from the static I’ve charged up?
I thought that if my Pc was grounded then I shouldn’t be able to shock my Pc,and this is really bothering me because I just upgraded my pc and I am debating on if I should return the new parts.

 

[Ralston18]

If just a one-time clearly identifiable static shock the components should be okay.

Hopefully the static discharge found its' way to ground (earth) and took the intended/designed easiest path to avoid damaging any components.

Where problems occur is when the charge goes from you through some component (e.g. a RAM module) and then to the case/ground.

The component in the middle could be damaged.

If the computer is working then there should be no need to return the new parts.

 

[Jaydeesus]

If just a one-time clearly identifiable static shock the components should be okay.

Hopefully the static discharge found its' way to ground (earth) and took the intended/designed easiest path to avoid damaging any components.

Where problems occur is when the charge goes from you through some component (e.g. a RAM module) and then to the case/ground.

The component in the middle could be damaged.

If the computer is working then there should be no need to return the new parts.

How would I know if my components are fine?Would it cause for less performance?

 

[Ralston18]

If everything is working as it was your system should be fine.

If something was damaged then it would either not work or cause errors of one sort or another.

 

[Jaydeesus]

If everything is working as it was your system should be fine.

If something was damaged then it would either not work or cause errors of one sort or another.

What’s the point of grounding then?Also would I see less performance from my system?

 

[Solandri]

What’s the point of grounding then?Also would I see less performance from my system?

Grounding is to protect you, not to protect the computer. If the PSU were malfunctioning and it sent 110V AC to the case, then it would kill you if you touched the case. But if it's properly grounded, the wayward 110V AC gets sent to ground, which will immediately trip your home's circuit breaker or blow a fuse. Thus your first clue that something is wrong is when the breaker trips or a fuse blows. Not when you're sent to the hospital/morgue from electrocution.

For small static shocks like you get from your finger in dry weather, the metal in the case alone is usually enough to absorb the electrical discharge. It's only a problem if the shock travels through sensitive electronics before reaching the case (the motherboard is also grounded to the case). If you still don't like discharging static from yourself to the computer case, touch something else that's big and metal first. Table legs usually work.

 

[Jaydeesus]

Grounding is to protect you, not to protect the computer. If the PSU were malfunctioning and it sent 110V AC to the case, then it would kill you if you touched the case. But if it's properly grounded, the wayward 110V AC gets sent to ground, which will immediately trip your home's circuit breaker or blow a fuse. Thus your first clue that something is wrong is when the breaker trips or a fuse blows. Not when you're sent to the hospital/morgue from electrocution.

For small static shocks like you get from your finger in dry weather, the metal in the case alone is usually enough to absorb the electrical discharge. It's only a problem if the shock travels through sensitive electronics before reaching the case (the motherboard is also grounded to the case). If you still don't like discharging static from yourself to the computer case, touch something else that's big and metal first. Table legs usually work.

Why do I ground myself to the pc case if I can cause harm to my Pc?

 

[bignastyid]

Is my pc fine if I touch my case and feel a shock from the static I’ve charged up?

The static electricity you built up jumped to ground. It just happened to be the first grounded thing you touched was your case, This is normal and will not damage the system, infact touching the case is what you should do first when working inside a system. Now if you had built up this charge and touched a component like the motherboard or gpu for example then it could have caused esd damage since you didn't ground/discharge yourself beforehand.

I thought that if my Pc was grounded then I shouldn’t be able to shock my Pc

The fact that it is grounded means you can discharge static electricity to it. If it wasn't grounded then it may shock you(common issue with ungrounded outlets) and if there is a short(like an out of place standoff or broken wire) then it could electrocute you if you become the best path to ground.

 

[Ralston18]

You ground yourself to allow any build up of electrons on your person to leave you and pass harmlessly to earth without passing through some compenent(s) on your computer. Or any other electronic device for that matter.

You ---> Case ---> Ground/earth. With respect to static discharges.

If the device is not plugged in the charge will not/may not have an easy path to follow and could go through some sensitive component.

So all you need to do is to touch almost anything metal ( a door knob) to discharge yourself.

Sometimes I even get to "zap" younger family members......

 

[ss202sl]

case - ground is not the same as case - through components - ground

 

[CountMike]

Static electricity travels on the outside of conductor, in this case the PC case, innards are protected by Faraday's Cage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage which is your PC's metal. A good case grounding to earth will just conduct it to earth.

 

[Jaydeesus]

Static electricity travels on the outside of conductor, in this case the PC case, innards are protected by Faraday's Cage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage which is your PC's metal. A good case grounding to earth will just conduct it to earth.

So my Pc should be fine performance wise?Or should I take the opportunity to return the parts?Is there a way to check if my Pc has less performance.

 

[CountMike]

So my Pc should be fine performance wise?Or should I take the opportunity to return the parts?Is there a way to check if my Pc has less performance.

Sigh..... don't they teach physics in schools any more ?? Your PC is fine, don't worry. It would take large EMC direct hit to fry anything in it.

 

[Solandri]

Why do I ground myself to the pc case if I can cause harm to my Pc?

Short answer: You can't cause harm to the PC case. You can cause harm to the internal components. So it's preferable to discharge to the PC case, to prevent yourself from discharging to the internal components.

Long answer: The PC case is a really big hunk of metal which doesn't really do anything. As long as it's metal, and all the pieces of metal are in contact with each other, they allow electricity to flow and thus helps shield everything inside from electricity (and radio waves, but that's another story).

OTOH, a transistor in modern integrated circuits have traces ("wires") which are only a few hundred atoms wide (some are less than 100 atoms).

When you discharge static electricity, you are transferring electrons from your body to whatever it is you touched (usually metal). Those electrons jump to the object, and because like charges repel and all electrons are negatively charged, they do everything they can to get as far away from each other as possible. Moving electrons = electricity. So once the static spark has jumped, there's a small electrical current generated throughout the object you touched.

Flowing electricity heats up the conductor it's traveling through (unless it's a superconductor). If the static discharge happens to hit a particular IC transistor, most or all of that electricity will flow through the "wires" in the transistor. Since the "wires" are only a few hundred atoms wide, it doesn't take much electricity to heat them to the point where they melt. At which point the transistor stops working. The case OTOH is a solid hunk of metal, so the electricity gets distributed over a lot more atoms (a much thicker "wire"), so the heating is much less. And even if there were significant heating, the case has no critical microscopic arrangement of the atoms which you care about.

Whether the case itself is grounded is irrelevant in terms of static. The number of electrons discharged via static is minuscule compared to the number of atoms in the case. So the overall effect the charge of those electrons has on the case is almost nil. That's why discharging static to a metal table let works. As I said, the point of case grounding is to protect you from harm if a much bigger source of flowing electrons (110V AC mains power) somehow manages to make it to the case.