How do I ground an Anti-Static Mat?

[HappyMonkey]

I know this question has probably already been asked hundreds of times already, and I apologize for asking it again, but I just cannot find a clear answer.

So, I have an anti-static mat and was wondering how I would correctly ground it and myself when working on a PC. Can I connect the grounding wire of the mat to a plugged in (but turned off) PSU, or even the ground receptacle of the wall outlet itself and then clip my wrist strap to the mat itself? Would that work?

This is the mat I have: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16899261021

 

[GhislainG]

Grounding it to a connected PSU is fine. Under the same conditions (grounded PSU), touching the case is good enough and the mat becomes sort of useless.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Grounding it to a connected PSU is fine. Under the same conditions (grounded PSU), touching the case is good enough and the mat becomes sort of useless.

I wonder what the purpose of these mats even are. I'm thinking that the mats are non-insulators to prevent any charge imbalance, but I may be wrong.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Now that I think about it, since carpet is an insulator, and human skin is conductive, I can't possibly see an issue where just feet on carpet could possibly pose a problem. Now, if you were wearing socks, different story, since socks are an insulator.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Yeah I was once under the faulty misconception that wearing shoes on carpet was a good idea (fortunately I was actually grounded via the outlet so there were no problems). But most of these misconceptions are just due to the way "static electricity" is improperly taught.

 

[popatim]

Ideally the pad plugs into a the ground of a grounded outlet and You plug into the pad (via wrist or leg strap)

You still need good work habits. This (the above) only equalizes your potential. If you grab a screw driver that somehow got charged to 100kv by the plastic handle then the metal tip still has the 100kv on it. Same for a case if you only touch the painted parts...

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Well it's not exactly "storing static" since "static" really is not a stuff - it's creating an imbalance of charge between two objects. Which cause those two objects to be oppositely charged and it causes an immensely strong electric field between them.

Matter of fact I hate the words "static electricity" altogether because they make no sense. It has nothing to do with anything being static. Static electricity can be present even when charge flows. It doesn't make sense that we call is "static electricity" when it is in fact the static electricity forces that cause charge to actually move.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

True, a capacitor is just a separation of positive and negative charge with one plate having an excess of protons and the other an excess of electrons. Static electricity is no different. One charged object has some more electrons, one has more protons. Finally someone I can discuss this stuff with.

 

[HappyMonkey]

Thanks for your replies guys. I appreciate the help!