Matt,
A very good question indeed!
We have addressed this issue in full detail and I
offer the following summary:
- Red ballons within 3' of missletoe generate an
average of .002 mA to a radius of 5.2'
- Red ballons alone generate .000013 mA when in an
idle state as opposed to swaying gently in a breeze when this increases to
.00027 mA
- Green ballons for some reason generate no
properties whatsoever, our analysis revealed this was due in part to
chlorophyl added to the latex, go figure????
- Tinsel generates by far the highest static
charge of all the christmas items we evaluated. The breakdown for tinsel
is:
- When worn over the head at
christmas parties: 14 Amps
- When hanging from production
equipment: 23 Amps
- When hanging from a fake
tree:
16 Amps
-
" "
real tree:
14
Amps
When inadvertantly fabricated into a circuit board
however, it can act as an
internal trace quite well, something for you designers to think
about
Now the biggest danger we did identify throughout
this entire evaluation process may surprise most of you, missletoe itself, when
missletoe is placed near the coffee pot we detected static energy within 25' of
the area up to 75 Amps, interestingly enough when the missletoe was moved to our
CAM area, the number decreased to around 35 Amps and the lowest reading was when
we placed the missletoe directly over our General Managers office door, there
was no detectable levels of static energy.
I hope htis information helps all of you, Merry
Christmas everyone, and be careful; out there.
Franklin D Asbell
Network Circuits, Inc.
Irving, Texas
disclaimer: Keep in mind I know hardly anything
about ESD data and limitations. The data provided is only to be used as
lighthearted banter and not actual practices, oh yeah, my lawyer asked me to
include this.