strucked by lightning

Hi everyone,
yay, friday. I thought it would never come and now it's here. But my weekend is fully planned and I have not that much free-time that I would like to have.
League of Legends released new bots you can fight and then there is this cool, new champion I want to try. I also bought an add-on for Borderlands that I wanted to buy since it came out which needs to be played through. Yeah, time flows by so fast.
Maybe you want to know whats up with that title I wrote. I had actually 2 reasons for that:

Reason 1:
I get a lot of electric shocks at work. Not the bad kind but I charge myself on the chair or that stupid carpet and then when I grab a doorknob or touch a pc case *BRITZL* I get an electric shock.
Whoever thought that a carpet is a great idea in a company where you have to deal with a lot of ESD vulnerable components was a real idiot.
(ESD vulnerable components = electric static discharge vulnerable components that get totally destroyed or even worse, just a little damaged when you discharge yourself over such components)
Want to know why it is bad if a component is only slightly damaged instead of completly destroyed?
When a part is destroyed another part doesnt function in a specific way so it is easier to find the broken part end replace it.
But when one part actually works but not the way it should, causes many different problems which could be caused by other parts but you dont know it for sure so you have to search way longer for the problem than normal.


Reason 2:


I'm going to explain how that actually works with some cool pictures I drew myself. (Actually I stole them fron the internet and drew the crappy part myself)

At first I want to say: I really liked writing that. I missed my informative posts. There are most likely more on the way.

Back to topic:
So lets say you are sitting on a chair with fabric cover. Now I assume that you move a little on that chair over time. Noone will sit on a chair without moving even the slightest bit. Now while you move a little, electrons jump from the fabric cover over to you and you charge yourself.

-How can that happen?
Because rubbing yourself on the seat uses energy which forces the electrons on your body.
- Why not forceing electrons on the chair?
Most likely you are wearing shoes. Most shoes are non-conductive so you dont discharge yourself immediatly but you are more conductive to the ground then the chair you are sitting on. Also, electrons are lazy and will always take the shortest/easiest route to discharge, so they choose you.

Now comes the painfull part. You touch something. A coffee machine, a metalic doorknob, a window frame made of aluminium, your pc case, anything that is grounded and you will get an electric shock.

- Why is this happening?
Because you are loaded with electrons (which are negatively poled) and the conductive part you are touching is most likely connected to the ground (which is neutral).
The electrons are now flowing through your body and at that small point that reached the conductive material first, all surplus electrons flow to the ground.
The reason why you only feel it at the point where you touched something is because at that point all electrons are concentrated while flowing out.

It is not unlikely that you discharge yourself with a voltage over 1000 volt.....
Wait, wouldn't that mean you die instantly? A normal human can take up to 120 current Voltage without taking much damage and will die because of inner burnings when the voltage rises. 500 volt would be enough to grill you for sure. So why are we still alive after that?
Actually, you can take endless voltage over an infinitesimal time which means you survive hundreds of volt without any harm because it happens so fast. But because the discharge happens you still feel it.

There are special boots, coats, seats (wooden seat lol), even whole workplaces that are ESD proove. Those things are not made to save yourself from painfull discharges but to save little electrical components that you might destroy with your static electricity. If you would wear those special shoes, the coat, and work on an ESD proove workplace it is impossible for you to charge yourself with staic energy.

 *insert rainbow* The more you know! *insert rainbow*

Bye :D