Static

[Gautama2]

Would wearing a necklace, in this case a gold one, ground you from static?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Not unless the necklace was grounded. You could always wrap it around the PSU 😉

 

[Gautama2]

hmm i seem to misunderstand this whole grounding thing, i thought all you had to do was be touching metal?

 

[orangat]

The metal has got to be grounded otherwise where are electrons supposed to flow?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The metal you touch has to be grounded. If you live somewhere with high humidity, static is not usually a problem. I live in an arid climate and have developed a bad habit when building to just touch the PSU (when it's plugged in of course) to ground myself. I haven't had any problems but there's always a first time.

 

[MrDudeMan]

the metal you interface with must be connected to earth ground, otherwise it is not providing a path of lesser resistance than the component you are carrying, thus causing a static discharge into your precious hardware. it is possible to have a current in the situation you described (what most people will say is "not completing the circuit") but not at any normal or usable range, which is why the conductor you are touching must be connected to earth ground to start the flow of electrons instead of continuing to build a static charge. think of the earth as a giant bucket and the electrons as water...you have to have a way to pour the water in the bucket, but the only way the water will go into the bucket is through a conductor, and if the conductor is not somehow connected to the bucket, then you will continue to hold the water until it spills over and breaks your ram or video card (assuming you are touching one of those when you literally discharge your static build-up, but you get the point i assume).

 

[Gautama2]

But I heard some people just grab their case to ground themselves, but its not touching any earth?

Electricity confuses me.

 

[SparkyJJO]

If you touch the case as long as the computer is plugged in the case is grounded. If the computer isn't plugged in touching the case will just equalize the charge between you and the case but not actually ground it.

 

[bob4432]

ones needs to be careful as a lot of psus still deliver power when the machine is off but the psu iis still hot. just out of curiosity, when you flp the switch to actually turn off the psu, is the ground still active?

 

[SparkyJJO]

yes when you flip the switch the ground is still active. The ground is directly connected to the frame of the PSU, hence through the frame of the PSU to the case. The switch only cuts the hot line.

You can tell when the PSU is totally dead after shutting the switch off when the light on the mobo shuts off (most mobos have an LED someplace on them). After that the caps in the PSU are drained.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
yes when you flip the switch the ground is still active. The ground is directly connected to the frame of the PSU, hence through the frame of the PSU to the case. The switch only cuts the hot line.

You can tell when the PSU is totally dead after shutting the switch off when the light on the mobo shuts off (most mobos have an LED someplace on them). After that the caps in the PSU are drained.

thanks, was wondering this for some time.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
If you touch the case as long as the computer is plugged in the case is grounded. If the computer isn't plugged in touching the case will just equalize the charge between you and the case but not actually ground it.

i wouldnt say it equalizes the charge since that is a very complicated assumption, but you are right in that it does nothing to provide any type of electrical isolation of the components from any static you have built up.