The effect of static electricity
 
If you ever happened to walking on carpet, then you touched a metal object like a door handle, you know what the overall effects of static electricity? But, you know why it happens or how bad it can be for the components of your computer?

Though it may seem silly unimportant, an electrostatic discharge can cause serious damage to your hard drive. Comparable to the effect of lightning on a tree, when there is an electrostatic discharge on your hard drive it is as if a bomb exploded and split the circuit board. But there is no need to panic, following a few simple tips will protect your hard drive and prevent something as simple as an electrostatic discharge.

What is an electrostatic discharge?

An electrostatic discharge or jolt "is a part of a field of high voltage is not balanced on a non-conductive surface, your hand, the carpet, a screwdriver, that just happened to touch a conductive surface quickly and uncontrollably.

Static electricity is the same part of a field of high voltage that is not balanced on a non-conductive surface of something, but that has not reached the point of releasing their electrons to bridge the imbalance against a driver with a greater positive charge. This area of high voltage unbalanced is not "discharged" until conditions are optimal, i.e. until the number of electrons trapped in the cargo space that surrounds it reaches a point where they can not accept more electrons. When approaching a conductive surface of some kind of distance, this goes through the process of matching the field’s electrons.

Some examples of voltages:

     * 3000 volts, the average human being can not feel voltages below this level.
     * 8000 volts: brushing against clothing.
     * 15,000 - 20,000 volts: pushing a plastic-lined box on a carpet with one foot.
     * 18,000 volts: rising from a foam-cushion sofa upholstery nylon.
     * 35,000 volts: running on a carpet.

What is an electric shock?

An electrostatic discharge can not kill a person, but may settle to the components of your computer. Although we would need to discharge of 3000 volts to feel a shock, static is much more capable of damaging small semiconductor devices. Many of the most sophisticated electronic components can break down with charges of only 10 volts.

Electrostatic discharge can cause problems when a hand tool finds a path of least resistance to a component. If the energy of this load is greater than the amount of energy that the device has the capacity to dissipate, damage can occur. Integrated circuits are especially sensitive to electrostatic discharge, such as processors, memory, cache chips and expansion cards. The damage can be immediate and can melt, break or corrode part. Worse, you could electrocute your hard drive, without realizing it. It is difficult to see when the problems are due to electrostatic discharges, which often do not affect the disc up to several days or even months.

Prevention Tips

Here are some simple tips to help you avoid electrostatic.

    1. Store hard drives in a special anti-static bag until the time comes to install it.
    2. Use an antistatic wrist connected to a non-painted surface of the chassis of your computer.
    3. If you do not have an anti-static bracelet, you can touch an un-painted portion of the computer’s chassis to release any static build up.
    4. Only touch the connectors on the disk having the appropriate ends or bridges. Do not use fingers or unprotected non-insinuated tools.
    5. Protect your disk for high-voltage sources such as fans or vacuum cleaners.
    6. Do not connect power cords or data to a disk drive unless the computer is completely turned off and disconnected from the power source.

Finally, you can also limit the electrostatic discharge by controlling the temperature. Increasing the relative humidity of the room where the computer reduces the electrostatic energy accumulated. Static energy is accumulated more rapidly in dry environments.

The first step to prevent electrostatic discharge is to know what it is. Following safe procedures and understanding why static electricity occurs will narrow down the chances of your components to getting damaged.

Tags: computer repair sacramento, computer service sacramento, sacramento computer repair, sacramento computer service