What causes Static electricity to pc parts ?

[Mukachaka]

I put a hard disc drive on plastic surface and put a graphics card in an empty box without anti static electricity case for building a new pc. Those are still there for about three days because I'm gonna buy a hardwares nextweek. The thing to make me worried is whether these could be damaged by static electricity. Did I make a mistake ? I can't afford to buy new gpu. What's the best way to avoid damage for gpu ram hdd and cpu ?

 

[LinuxDevice]

Cardboard and plastic are sensitive to static electricity (probably plastic more so than cardboard). However, separate components are more sensitive than a complete card. The cardboard is a risk, and you'd never do that in a factory, but realistically it isn't a huge risk. The risk is significant enough to worry. One thing you might do, provided you grab the grounded metal tab which opens to the back of the PC with the connector before touching anything, is perhaps to wrap the card in aluminum foil. Always grab the grounded metal frame first.

Ram is much more sensitive to static and you won't have any grounded surface to grab first. You could perhaps wrap this in aluminum foil as well, but the moment of grabbing it to put it in the aluminum is a risk. Walking around and moving your feet on the floor while working on it is more risk than keeping your feet from shuffling around (especially on carpet). It may not be a huge risk, it depends, e.g., if you have carpet.

 

[g6andrew]

New components come in anti-static bags that will help protect them. They are not expensive. When you buy the rest of the parts, keep some of the bags for next time.
The trick is to bleed away a static charge gradually. That's what wrist straps and mats do. The problem with wrapping it in foil is that the moment the highly conductive foil touches the RAM circuit board damage can be done. I recommend getting some black anti-static bags. Wrap the component with one bag as you pick it up and pop it into another. As the bags are are slightly conductive they will bleed away any static charge slowly.
The rest of the advice above is good.

 

[LinuxDevice]

Yes, the aluminum foil is an inferior solution...it's just for an emergency where you are concerned and don't have a real anti-static bag.