does washing your hands discharge static electric

[Guest]

I'm no electrician, but I think thats what most residential codes rely on around here, the water feeds being grounded. I think, again not sure, that you can safely/reliably use that ground for residential stuff.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by knewton on 01/24/02 01:58 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[CALV]

Mine are grounded, but by the time I'd walked back on the carpet from the kitchen, Im sure I would have"charged up" again, I'm also not overcareful when it comes to static, but I normall do work on the pc with it plugged in (and often turned on, lol u ever hit a spinning fan with a screwdriver?!!) I am a BIT careful, i.e. I wont work on a mobo on the carpet, I'll put it on my desk (wood).
As for "yanks", yes, here in uk we do call Americans yanks, not in an offensive way at all, in fact I dont even know why!!


If they squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do they get baby oil?

 

[jlbigguy]

<font color=blue>"heard that this works too as the water is grounded in a sense. any opinions as to the truth of this?"</font color=blue>

Absolutely not!

Static electricity is a result of a difference of potential (voltage) between 2 bodies. So let's assume that washing did give you a "zero" potential. As you reach for the towel, you are changing your body capacitance, which changes your potential. Lift your leg to take a step, your potential changes yet again. Now, lets assume that you are still at zero potential. If the device you plan to work with is not at zero potential, then static discharge will occur.

Static discharge will occur even if you ground yourself to a water pipe. If the device you are working on does not have a dedicated earth ground, it WILL NOT be at zero potential, and static discharge will occur.

The only way to prevent static discharge is to have the 2 bodies at the SAME potential. Wear a wrist strap, and connect it to a ground point ON THE DEVICE you are working on. This way, you and the device are at the same potential, and no static discharge will occur.

Humans cannot feel static discharge under 50,000 volts. Just because we cannot feel it doesn't mean it is not happening. A discharge as small as 1000v can damage a chip. Perhaps not destroy it, but change its characteristics slightly, and certainly shorten its life. Don't forget, you cannot feel these discharges. As chips get smaller (.13 micron now), it takes less to damage them.

Does that CPU no longer overclock like it once did? Damaged gates, but not destroyed, will degrade the performance of a chip until it no longer operates properly.

Not "grounding" yourself to the device you are working on will definetely cause small amounts of damage to the components, and shorten the life span of the device. It is an accident waiting to happen.

<font color=blue>This is a Forum, not a playground. Treat it with Respect.</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

OK, but one could also create all of your conditions for electronics safety by washing one hand while working on the plugged in PC with the other, assuming low resistance water, and properly grounded taps and power outlets. So if that is true then it has to be true that washing your hands will allow any body static charge to discharge. But who would do that?

Personnaly I just touch my plugged in case alot, and handle stuff with care.

 

[Smilin]

Touching your case does NOT discharge static electricity unless it's plugged in and grounded. It DOES however make sure the static charge in you and the case are the same. It's not the static electricity that gets ya, it's the discharge.

I personnally like to pee on my computer before I work on it. It fixes any static problems and generally just lets the computer know who's boss. Ya never really have any problems after that.

 

[FatBurger]

I personnally like to pee on my computer before I work on it. It fixes any static problems and generally just lets the computer know who's boss. Ya never really have any problems after that.

ROFL

<font color=orange>Quarter</font color=orange> <font color=blue>Pounder</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Inside</font color=orange>

 

[Guest]

ever hit a spinning fan with a screwdriver?!!

Sometimes, just to get one to shut up. One of my old power supplies would sound pretty quiet for a while if I would just shove it in the fan a couple times after it was up to speed.

 

[Smilin]

I was trying to find a loud fan once and I couldn't tell if this one was spinning so I held the back of my hand up to it to feel for airflow...the sumbitch caught the back of my knuckle and pulled in about a 1/2 inch strip of skin before I could yank my hand away.

I smacked it with a hammer a few times and it hasn't really made a sound since. If you have noisy fans I would recommend this approach minus the profuse bleeding.

Oh...and in reference to my previous post. Don't pee on your computer when it's plugged in. I lost a kidney the last time. Spose that's why we have two huh?

 

[phsstpok]

Fingers aren't the only things that can get caught in fans.



<b>We are all beta testers!</b>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

ROFLROFLROFL
THIS THREAD IS HILLARIOUS...
whoops, caps got stuck on, sorry.
cant be bothered changing it though

ive stuck a finger in a fan too... it was fun.
it was an 80mm pabst @3600rpm... fotunately not my 80mm delta @5200!

also had a long strip of paper get sucked into a fan.. messy

The lack of thermal protection on Athlon's is cunning way to stop morons from using AMD.

 

[Matisaro]

Humans cannot feel static discharge under 50,000 volts. Just because we cannot feel it doesn't mean it is not happening. A discharge as small as 1000v can damage a chip. Perhaps not destroy it, but change its characteristics slightly, and certainly shorten its life. Don't forget, you cannot feel these discharges. As chips get smaller (.13 micron now), it takes less to damage them.

Some comments, seeing as I work in the semiconductor field.

A: he is right, a static charge capable of damaging an ic can be had way below human feeling threshold.
B: the damage from the static is to the gate dielectric ONLY, thus the shift to .13micron or any line size for that matter has no effect in itself, thinner gates would make static damage more possible however.
C:Static charges cannot shorten the life of an ic(in any way I know of) they either do blow the gate dielectric, or they do not, there is no try.(yoda joke, sue me )

"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
No Overclock+stock hsf=GOOD!

 

[jlbigguy]

At an electrical engineering seminar I attended about 15 years ago, there was a session on static discharge and the effect it has on semiconductor components. To demonstate how static degrades components, they placed a transistor (with a wrist strap) in a device that measured the leakage current between the emitter and the collector. They then removed the transistor, and passed it around to a couple of people, no wrist strap. The transistor was then placed back in the device and the leakage current was measured. It had increased by tenfold. The transistor still worked, but its operating characteristics had changed, though still in spec.

While this was a discreet transistor, I assume that similiar effects would happen with chips, especially as the components are that much smaller.

Another part of the demo measured the static potential on a body. Even when seated, simply moving your arm generated enough static to damage a device.

It was a very effective demo, and taught me the importance of a wrist strap. The only time I do not use a wrist strap is when I work on a device that has tubes. Anyone remember what they are?

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[Matisaro]

The gates on a transistor are so thin their leakage is already rather high(given the current levels) if you damage the gate dielectric even slightly it will result in a transistor failure. I do realize that there may be instances where damage occurs but not failure, but given the tight specifcations of the gateox this occuring is rare.

"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
No Overclock+stock hsf=GOOD!