As I understand it, the idea is to keep the whole board at the same
potential, whatever that is. Damage only happens when you get one
part of the board grounded and another part hits a higher (or lower)
potential; current flows through components, probably in ways not
intended, and certainly at higher voltages than normal if it's static
electricity. I would think you could wrap a board in foil, charge it
up to a few thousand volts of static electricity, and then ground the
foil with a big blue spark and no damage to the board. If the
wrapping being conductive is a problem, why does the whole industry go
to such pains to use conductive foam, peanuts, and metallic plastic
bags?
-Bill Richman
bill_r_at_inetnebr.com
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r
(Home of the COSMAC Elf microcomputer simulator!)
Received on Sat Aug 15 1998 - 18:27:39 BST