What harm can ESD cause?
There are not many around you. If you get an electric shock while touching your home computer, stereo, or other electronic equipment, it is possible, but unlikely, to cause some damage. Most likely, your computer will reset, or your stereo will erase all stations you have recorded. Most companies design protection against ESD into their products.
Of course, if you've taken your computer or stereo apart and had an ESD event while touching the internal components, there's a good chance you've damaged or destroyed electronic circuitry. The protections designed into these products are no longer effective when you touch the internal parts and components, as individual components often have little or no built-in ESD protection. With this in mind, consider the factory where your computer or stereo is manufactured, where the people and machines that work there are in constant contact with the inner workings and components of those products. The cost of ESD in such plants can be prohibitively high. Electrostatic discharge in manufacturing facilities can cause various defects and problems in products assembled there, and it can also damage sensitive equipment and machinery used in the manufacturing process. ESD is a huge problem in factories that produce everything from computers and stereos to electronic components. Even wheat flour and manure.
So how is ESD controlled?
It depends on where the static problem occurs, like a shocking doorknob. Carpet can use some materials to prevent the generation of electric charge. In the dryer, you can add fabric softener sheets, which apply a small amount of a chemical to your clothes to make them resist the buildup of electrical charges.
However, solving ESD problems in a factory is much more complicated. The factory is equipped with a conductive floor that does not generate electrical charges. Employees wear special coats, or have grounding straps on their shoes. Employees wear static wristbands from their wrists to ground their bodies when they are at their workbenches. Various types of static eliminators are used to generate a gentle stream of ionized air to neutralize static charges on various materials.
