A Hidden Threat To Handhelds

Logic Bomb writes: "An article from the San Francisco Chronicle focuses on a lawsuit against Palm, but talks about a larger issue: static and handheld computers. Basically, as computing equipment becomes smaller and more likely to be carried around, major damage from static becomes a serious threat. As the blurb at the end of the article says, it takes 3500 volts for a human to feel a shock, but only 200 to potentially scramble a microchip." We already mentioned the lawsuit, but this has more information about the supposed risks to your motherboard.

3500 volts for a human to feel a shock?

[Anonymous Admin]

It must have been my imagination that hurt when I plugged that paperclip into the wall outlet.

Stats ahoy..

[ksb]

He said that damage attributable to static electricity causes losses to the global electronics industry in excess of $45 billion per year. The estimate, based on a sampling of electronics companies, includes the cost of damaged goods and their replacement, and field service for equipment repair.

I wonder if the Damage by static is the default option in the returns database of these manufacturers ;)

Re:It's a class B computing device... no big deal

[carlos_benj]

You are confusing ESD with EMC

I just can't keep up. I know about RMS and ESR, but who are these new guys?