Of course, every person on the planet has at least once succumbed to electric shocks when they touched a door handle, car or other objects. Many people ask themselves the question: “What is this? How does it work? Why is this action happening?” One thing we can say is that this is static electricity, which is important to be aware of. This and many other issues on this topic are discussed in this article.
The nature of static electricity
Their school textbooks know that a discharge can only jump between a positively charged object and a negatively charged one. And in most cases, we ourselves are the carriers of the positive charge. Upon contact with a voluminous metal object or another person (since our body is 80% water, the tissues of the human body are a priori excellent conductors of electricity), a discharge occurs, that is, a phenomenon when your body is discharged, otherwise it is freed from its positive charge. But how to remove static electricity without harmful consequences and discomfort? Let us first examine the background of its occurrence.
Where does the positive charge in our body come from?
Let us explain it in a language that is accessible and understandable to everyone, even those who are not experienced in physics. Material objects accumulate any charge through friction. Each atom that makes up any material body (including the human one) has electrons rotating around its nucleus. Let's give a simple example.
When we take off our clothes over our heads and throw the blouse on the sofa, a large number of electrons, through friction, seem to be erased from their orbits and transferred to the blouse that we took off. It is well known that electrons are negatively charged particles, and therefore our blouse becomes negatively charged, since in its tissues there is now an excess of electrons from our body, while we ourselves become positively charged, since there is now a shortage of negatively charged particles in the tissues.
If we then decide to touch a metal object or another person, we will feel an electric shock. A microscopic lightning discharge will appear between the fingertips of the hand and the object, during which a discharge will occur in the literal sense of the word. Our body, through this discharge, will absorb the missing amount of electrons from this object, and the energy in it will again become balanced. Plus and minus will be balanced again.
How does static electricity accumulate in our body?
But in order for an imbalance of charged particles to occur in your body, you don’t have to take something off yourself. Sitting in a car, we rub against the seat. As we walk, clothing can remove some electrons from our body. Any friction helps to transfer a certain amount of electrons from somewhere to something. And now you have already turned into a charged material body, which, upon contact with any conductor (metal or other fairly massive current-carrying object), will definitely discharge, that is, it will absorb the missing electrons from this object through a spark that jumps between you and this object. But how to remove static electricity from yourself and surrounding objects?
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Categories: Computers and laptops
English:Ground Yourself to Avoid Destroying a Computer with Electrostatic Discharge
Español:hacer tierra para evitar destruir una computadora con descarga electrostática
Italiano:Scaricare l'Elettricità Statica per Evitare di Danneggiare un PC
Português:Evitar Destruir um Computador pela Energia Estática
Deutsch:Durch Erdung Computerschäden vermeiden
Français:éviter d'endommager un ordinateur par une décharge électrostatique
Bahasa Indonesia:Menghindari ESD dengan Pentanahan Diri
ไทย:ground ตัวเองป้องกันไฟฟ้าสถิตทำชิ้นส่วนคอมพิ วเตอร์เสียหาย
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Nederlands:Jezelf aarden om te voorkomen dat je een computer kapot maakt door elektrostatische ontlading
Tiếng Việt:Tự nối đất nhằm tránh hư hỏng máy tính do tĩnh điện
中文:避免身上的静电损坏电脑
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Seal
The first and main rule
A sufficiently grounded object will never accumulate static electricity. What does "grounded" mean? This means constant contact with the earth's surface. But in order to “contact the earth’s surface,” the shoes must have conductive soles. At the present time, this is hardly possible, since all modern shoes are made with soles made of synthetic polymers, rubber, rubber, etc.
“But how to remove static electricity from a person in this case?” - you ask. How else can you “ground yourself”? The answer is simple, and it lies in increased air humidity. If the level of air humidity in the room is even slightly higher than usual, the air itself, saturated with moisture, will become an excellent “discharger” for your body. This is why static electricity does not occur when humidity is high, just as it does not occur if you, say, get wet in the rain.
Care instructions
It’s quite simple to take care of the blanket so that it becomes less electrified. To do this you need:
- Periodically shake out any dust from any covers.
- If the blanket is not made of wool, it can safely be machine washed at 30 degrees.
- The coating should be laid out on a table or other horizontal surface and the drying process should be carried out in this form.
- The blanket must “breathe”, so plastic wraps are not suitable for storing bedspreads. It is best to store the blanket in a cardboard box or simply put it on a closet shelf.
How to remove static from yourself painlessly?
The spark during discharge is not as painful as it is unpleasant. How to remove static electricity from your body or, more precisely, how to discharge yourself without receiving an unpleasant electric shock? To do this, you need to take any small steel product, such as a nail file, a teaspoon or tweezers, as a result of which the positive potential of your body will spread to them. Next, you should touch the edge of the tweezers to the radiator, car or other massive metal object.
Then the spark will jump not between your fingers and the tweezers, but between the tweezers and the object you touch with them. In this case, you will not experience any negative feelings. You just have to do this over and over again at certain intervals, otherwise sooner or later the charge will accumulate in you again, and you will still receive an electric shock.
Prevention at work
In the case of production at enterprises, plants, factories, it will not be enough to hang a sign prohibiting animals in work premises
It is important to carry out scheduled regular training of personnel on measures against electric shock. One briefing per year will not be enough, since a person tends to forget information and get distracted
In addition, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the main wiring, wiring of equipment and tools in production. And it is important to remember that personnel safety is the work of not only the personnel themselves, but also management, because most often cases of electric shock occur in the production sector.
One of the most common causes of damage is human negligence and carelessness. In this case, a person may know measures to prevent electric shock, but does not take this information seriously, which becomes the cause of work-related injuries and death.
Also, negligence can be traced on the part of the administration of the enterprise where the victim works. And if such an incident occurred during work at production, responsibility for the incident will fall on the shoulders of the management of the organization in which the victim worked. And this was done for a reason. Labor protection legislation thus encourages enterprise management to devote more time to the issue of worker safety.
To prevent electric shock, there are basic and additional regulatory documents. In the case of protection measures against electricity, the following will be useful: “GOST ІЭС 61140-2012 Protection against electric shock”, “GOST 12.4.124 Means of protection against static electricity” and “GOST R EN 1149-5-2008 Special protective clothing”, PTEEP , PBEEP, PUE. These documents are very concise, but still contain the basic protection techniques that you need to know to effectively use the measures, means and methods of protection against electrical shock. For example, GOST ІЭС 61140-2012 is one of the main documents containing the rules for the technical operation of consumer electrical installations. These rules are necessary to know not only because they are part of the group exam, but also because they explain the user's responsibilities, operating procedures and types of electrical installations.
It is equally important to remember what collective protection measures exist for personnel. They consist in creating conditions under which there is no access to live parts that are energized
For this purpose, fencing, signaling, blocking devices and safety signs are used.
To prevent emergency situations, one of the main measures is protective grounding and protective grounding:
- grounding - connecting the metal parts of the installation to the ground;
- grounding - connecting the wiring to a neutral protective conductor, which disconnects the damaged section of the network.
It is also important to remember that you can get electrocuted by indirect contact. Indirect touch is contact with an open conductive part of an installation or equipment, which is de-energized during normal operation, but due to some factors has become energized
This phenomenon is especially dangerous when a person comes into contact with an installation without grounding, because in this case the outcome of accidental contact can be fatal. Therefore, you should not forget about such things as grounding and grounding in electrical installations.
You can read more about protective measures for indirect touch in the article we published earlier - https://samelectrik.ru/mery-zashhity-pri-kosvennom-prikosnovenii.html
The main thing that any manager should remember is that in order to prevent accidents and protect against electric shock, one should not skimp on the equipment of electricians, welders and other workers. All necessary technical measures must be taken to avoid accidents.
What clothes are prone to the accumulation of static tension?
Many people wonder how to remove static electricity from clothes. The fact is that clothing itself cannot accumulate either a positive or a negative charge. For it to accumulate, there needs to be friction between the pieces of clothing. And friction occurs when wearing clothes, taking them off, etc.
And in these cases, the charge accumulates not in the clothes themselves, but in your body. Only at the moment of parting with clothes can a spark fly between you and a wardrobe item. This is especially true for clothing made from synthetic fibers. Taking a synthetic sweater over your head, you can see with your own eyes the discharges flickering between its fabric, the fabrics of the clothes remaining on you, your hair and your body. This is especially noticeable when the lights are off. Even the air is filled with the smell of ozone, which occurs only during moments of electrical discharges, and the hairs on your head stand on end as they begin to repel each other.
But the piece of clothing that shocked you goodbye does not completely return to your body all the electrons taken from it, and therefore, after such undressing procedures, you always turn into an object with a “plus” sign, which sooner or later will be discharged to “minus”.
To prevent static charge from accumulating while wearing synthetic clothing, you need to wash it with special conditioners that prevent the wardrobe item from collecting electrons from your body. There are many such conditioners, and they are all sold in any household chemical stores.
Traditional methods
Removing static and eliminating the accumulation of electricity without using chemicals is not a problem.
You can prevent charge accumulation by fulfilling the following conditions:
- Do not wear synthetic clothing. Natural materials do not collect static when rubbing against each other. Polyester in fabric composition is very highly electrified;
- Wear shoes with leather soles. Leather, unlike rubber, always has some moisture and allows accumulated charges to flow to the ground.
Only fabric that can conduct electric current is not electrified, that is, wet or containing a metallized thread - Lurex. All others are capable of accumulating charge to a greater or lesser extent.
The main enemy of static is moisture and metal. So, to rid yourself of unpleasant sensations, you can do the following:
- If the dress becomes electrified and begins to stick to your legs and arms, then before putting it on or tights, apply a moisturizing lotion or cream to your body. Wet skin will prevent the charge from accumulating;
- Run wet hands over clothing. Of course, be aware that some fabrics may stain;
- An ordinary safety pin will help remove static from clothes. Pin it to the inside of the robe. There is no mysticism here, the pin removes the charge and prevents it from accumulating. The main thing is to know how and where to attach it. It's not just about the metal. Keys to a car or apartment, change in pockets are also metal, but they have no effect. The pin on the clothing should ensure contact with the skin or other item of clothing, from friction with which electricity accumulates. A convenient place is the seam on the inside of the collar in the area where the product tag is attached. There it is invisible and there is contact with the neck.
- To get rid of static for a long time, wash clothes with the addition of fabric softener or fabric softener;
- If there is no conditioner, when washing things, add a quarter cup of baking soda or 50 ml of table vinegar. Add vinegar at the end of washing before rinsing;
- In extreme cases, a folk method such as spraying hairspray on the lining of outerwear will help. You need to spray from a distance of at least 30 cm and wait until it dries!
"Evil" car
Very often, a static discharge spark jumps between the car and the motorist (passenger). What should you do if your car constantly shocks you? How to remove static electricity from a car so that every time you get out of the car, it doesn’t “bite” you goodbye?
Here the problem, again, lies in you, that is, in your behavior behind the wheel and in the materials from which the car seat covers or the seat itself are made. When you're behind the wheel, you're still moving, creating friction. A charge accumulates in you, and the rubber mats of the car prevent discharge, and the voltage remains in you the entire time you are in the car, until you, getting out of it, touch part of your body to the metal body of the car. At this moment, discharge occurs. There is little pleasant, and therefore you should stock up on special means for treating car seats. These antistatic agents come in the form of aerosols. By spraying this product on your seat covers, you will prevent them from accumulating a positive charge during friction.
But a car is a thing that can itself accumulate static, especially in dry weather. To prevent this from happening and your car not to shock you in vain, buy a special strip (strap) at an auto parts store, which is attached under the rear bumper and is powered to the body of the car. Current types of antistatic straps are even attached to the exhaust pipe. The tip of such a strip, constantly in contact with the ground, will prevent the accumulation of static in the body.
How to rid yourself of painful electric shocks
If all the measures taken did not bring success or they forgot to do something in a hurry and the clothes are electrocuted, then there are ways to painlessly remove the excess charge:
- Wearing mittens on your hands will reduce or eliminate the pain from the spark. As a last resort, pick up a coin and touch a metal object to relieve tension. On a note! The back of the hand has less sensitivity than the fingertips.
- When getting out of the car, you first need to grab the metal parts of the car body with your hand, and then put your foot on the ground. The accumulated charge will flow painlessly to the ground through the sole of the shoe. When the car is at a gas station, passengers should not be allowed to get out of the car, especially if they are wearing natural fur coats.
- An antistatic agent applied to the upholstery of a car will not harm even allergy sufferers, since there is practically no contact with bare skin. There are special antistatic wipes for car interiors on sale.
- Store clothes in the closet on metal hangers.
- Some people talk about the benefits of cotton insoles in shoes.
- Periodically spray your carpet or rug with fabric softener using a hand-held sprayer. Don't forget to wait for it to dry!
- If there is a dryer in the house and the clothes are dried in it, then three to four minutes before the end of the process you need to reduce the temperature to the minimum value and put a damp cloth inside the machine. Humidified air inside will prevent the formation of static electricity.
- Use a humidifier in your apartment. This is important during the heating season. At this time, air humidity is greatly reduced due to central heating.
"Evil" computer
The computer itself will not be able to accumulate a static discharge, since its entire body is powered to ground, that is, to minus from the outlet. Therefore, the question of how to remove static electricity from a computer does not make sense in itself. Static electricity, if any household appliance plugged into an outlet shocks you, should be removed not from it, but from you. This is done using the methods described above.
Providing first aid in case of direct electric shock
Of course, it is important to create all the conditions to ensure that accidents do not occur
Each employee must strictly follow all precautions and safety rules. However, accidents do happen
An important task is to help the victims before the ambulance arrives. Remember: every second counts here.
Help provided to the victim within the first minutes after the defeat saves life in 90%. There are two main stages in the medical care of a victim in case of injury:
However, accidents do happen
An important task is to help the victims before the ambulance arrives. Remember: every second counts here.
Help provided to the victim within the first minutes after the defeat saves life in 90%. There are two main stages in the medical care of a victim in case of injury:
- Freeing the victim from the direct action of electric current.
- Providing first necessary medical aid to the victim.
It is very important to have electrical safety signs and posters. After all, they can save someone's life!
To free the victim from exposure to voltage, it is necessary to turn off the voltage or remove the source of electric current away from the person.
The first aid provider must also take all precautions so as not to aggravate the situation.
To free the victim from exposure to voltage, it is necessary to turn off the voltage or remove the source of electric current away from the person.
The first aid provider must also take all precautions so as not to aggravate the situation.
Did the electrocuted person remain conscious? Then you should leave him alone until the ambulance arrives. If he has lost consciousness, but there are signs of breathing, then it is necessary to lay and warm the victim, and then try to bring him to his senses. In the absence of any signs of life, it is necessary to perform a cardiac massage in combination with artificial respiration.
"Evil" phone
Many phone models have metal parts in their casing, contact with which can also cause a small spark to jump between the gadget and you. The question of how to remove static electricity from a phone has the same explanation, namely, the “plus” accumulates in you, and not in the gadget. Get rid of the accumulated positive charge in your body, and the phone will not “snarl” at you.
