Static Electricity is just that; electrical energy that is standing still or static, and, therefore, ready to move at any time. These cashes of electricity, or charges will move towards the earth or ground as soon as there is a conductive path that they can follow.

Anything that conducts electricity will work. That includes metal, water and even people. If there is enough power in the charge and enough attraction between the source of the charge and the ground target, the electricity can actually jump or fly to that ground point.

Some examples of that phenomenon are lightening bolts flowing from clouds to the earth below and, more to our point, that painful shock you get after walking across a carpet and reaching out for the door knob on the other side of the room. ZAP!!!

The force of that static electric discharge can leave welts on you and can destroy sensitive electrical equipment, such as computer parts, if they are on the receiving end of the discharge or even if they are standing in the path of the flow of the charge. Like a fuse that breaks when too much electricity is flowing through it in order to protect the wiring beyond from melting, the sensitive electronic components in the way of a static electric discharge may break from the force of the charge. If that happens, often times it is difficult to find the failure and hours of downtime can result, also loss of memory or other similar problems may result.

That is where anti-static mats and other anti-static products come in to play. The more sensitive the machines or products are the more care must or should be taken to protect against potential damage that discharges of static electricity could cause. The protection comes in the way of diverting the electrical charges to ground or at least away from the products or machines to be protected.

Static adaptive mats are engineered to attract and gather potential static electric discharges and either dissipate that electrical energy into the mat and in time into the atmosphere, or, when outfitted with properly installed and sufficient numbers of ground wires, will continually drain the electrical charges they gather to ground. Ungrounded static dissipative mats will serves well for every day uses found in most office settings.

When computers are open for service, or when there are sensitive electronic parts being transported, or stored, or being used in the manufacture of sophisticated equipment, their exposure to harm from static electricity is greater since thay may not benefit from the normal protective devises included in many finished pieces of equipment.

Simple static dissipative mats leave too much to chance with regard to protecting such parts and machines from harm. In those situations, the grounding wires described earlier with one-ohm resistors, to protect against a reverse flow of electricity, which could harm and potentially electrocute the user of the mat, are needed.

Each grounding cord has an effective range of about four-feet in diameter. Larger mats would require a deployment of grounding cords that will overlap each of the other fields of coverage, to insure that potential electrical build up is constantly being taken to ground.

It would seem that with the right mats in place there would be no more problems with static electric damage. But, users who insulate electrically themselves from coming in contact with the mat by wearing non-condictive shoes such as sneakers, or crape sole shoes can defeat these mats. To make sure that this does not happen, special footgear that fits over the shoes and attaches directly to the user’s calf are employed.

This overview of the complicated area of static electricity is provided as a kind of introduction. Please feel free to contact The Mat King for solution suggestions to problems you may be having in this area. Please feel free to contact us at (800)442-6544 to discuss your particular static electric requirements. Click here for The Mat King Web Site in Overview.