All about Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)
September 12 2021 1:34am • Est. Read Time: 2 MINMost of us have had the experience of walking on a carpet, touching a doorknob and getting shocked. That shock you experienced is known as electrostatic discharge, or ESD for short. So what exactly happened? Why does this matter when performing repairs and upgrades on the Framework Laptop?
Let’s start by talking about what ESD is. Electrostatic Discharge is a sudden rush of static charge from one object to another object. When an object with a lot of charge comes across an object with less charge, the charge will attempt to equalize across the two objects. Humans do not naturally store a lot of electrostatic discharge, but there are instances where we can quickly build up ESD in high amounts. The clothing we wear might help promote the creation and storage of ESD. Clothes made of synthetic materials are prone to creating and storing static electricity in comparison to clothes made of cotton which tend to not store as much ESD. There are various other factors that can increase the amount of ESD we store such as low humidity levels. Remember that shock you got when you touched the doorknob? The static electricity was built up in your body as you were walking on the carpet. If the humidity was low, or if you were wearing synthetic material, the amount of static electricity that you built up is going to be even higher. When you touched the doorknob, the current from your body was passed to the doorknob which resulted in you experiencing an electric shock.
Why does this matter when working inside of the Framework Laptop?
Sure, the electric shock you got when you touched the doorknob wasn’t such a big deal. But that same shock can cause damage when you are working on components inside your laptop. Components inside of the Framework Laptop can be sensitive to ESD. You might shock a component resulting in immediate damage which means it will stop functioning completely. Or, you may experience latent damage. The component will be degraded, and as time progresses it won’t function as it should which could reduce the components lifespan. Fortunately there are a few tips and tricks you can follow to reduce the risk of causing ESD damage when working inside the Framework Laptop:
- Avoid loose clothing and avoid wearing materials made of wool or some synthetics
- Remove your jewelry and accessories
- Wear an anti-static wrist strap like this one
- Keep humidity levels normal
- Handle the metal casing parts of the Framework Laptopfirst when open.
- When picking up parts like the mainboard, touch your finger to one of the USB-C connectors before touching other parts of the mainboard.
- When bringing parts together, hold the metal connectors, or subassemblies and touch your hands between them, before they touch directly.
- You can help reduce ESD risk by placing sensitive components on top of the anti-static bags we ship them in, when removing parts from the system.