Why your PC is in Jeopardy from Electrostatic Discharge
Electrostatic discharge or ESD in the background of electronics refers to the momentary unwanted current which may mean damage to electronic equipment. ESD is a grave risk particularly in solid state electronics like integrated circuits which are made up of voltage-sensitive semiconductor and insulating materials. Even a low voltage may cause irreversible damage to these materials.
Static electric energy is one of the reasons for ESD. Static electricity happens ordinarily as even an easy rub with your fingertips on the PC keyboard can cause it. Much of static electricity occurs via a process called triboelectrification, when exchange of electrons occurs as 2 materials rub and then move apart.
The amount of voltage concerned in static electricity sounds fearsome but is actually innocuous to human beings. Walking across a carpet and touching a grounded metal item can involve 10,000 to 12,000 volts. But the amperage is minuscule. And it's amperage, not voltage, which is life-threatening to human beings.
Sadly, what cannot kill humans can be lethal to your P.C. Integrated circuits can be damaged by static electricity of as low as 4,000 volts, which is the minimum voltage that the average human can barely sense. This PC-killing voltage can happen by a straightforward act of opening up your PC, plugging in a RAM or some add-in card. You will never have any sensation in the slightest of static but still, you may have rendered a fatal blow to the integrated circuit.
The add-in you inserted may appear fine but after weeks, days or months, your Personal computer may act strangely and even lock up. Low-voltage static charges may cause latent or delayed damage as it insidiously destroys some of the many millions of gates in the integrated circuitry. In many cases, the hidden damage may not cause any Problems at all and therefore remains undiagnosed for a considerable time but it ultimately leads to persistent damage.
To avoid static damage, the simplest way is still to have adequate grounding which equalizes the electrical potential of both your body and the parts you are working on. In grounding, all static charges are drained to the ground thru an object attached to the earth.
There are other ways of minimizing static damage like using electric grounding, anti-static wrist strap and other parts and avoiding the usage of static-inducing components.
In all but the most intense cases of static damage, a professional data recovery company will be well placed to rescue most, if not all, of your precious information.
Jason Sloan runs a data recovery business called Kingdom Data Recovery Edinburgh who service all of the UK. He's got many articles on his website which refer to issues with storage and useful info about stopping information loss.
