Don't worry; it's just ESD!

January 9, 2013 2:05 PM

Don't worry; it's just ESD! (SLYT)
posted by ZenMasterThis (16 comments total)

If that guy was trying to be funny, that's the best goddamned performance I've seen in a year.
posted by nushustu at 2:21 PM on January 9, 2013 [4 favorites]

Object Lesson: QED.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:47 PM on January 9, 2013

That was indeed hilarious.
posted by grog at 2:56 PM on January 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

It took all the effort I could muster not to forward this to all my EE friends.
posted by ooga_booga at 2:56 PM on January 9, 2013

I laughed bitterly. Then had a series of flashbacks to working in the computer lab with the rolly-chairs made of nylon webbing over steel frames. *twitch*
posted by Iteki at 2:58 PM on January 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

That was great. His deadpan makes it.

I wonder if he was actually able to capture the discharges on camera or if those were effects added in later?
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:01 PM on January 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

If he wasn't trying to be funny when he zapped himself, he gets major props for realizing how hilarious the mistakes were and including them in the finished project. Of course, if he was actually trying to be funny, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. A riot either way.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:21 PM on January 9, 2013

If you're wondering if he's trying to be funny, he is.
posted by zompus at 4:18 PM on January 9, 2013

Thanks for this! I'm doing technician training this week at work. Tomorrow morning, we discuss electrostatic discharge. We're definitely watching this video.
posted by sleeping bear at 6:32 PM on January 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh man, between this and the iPhone guy, I am thoroughly enlightened and delighted tonight.
posted by maudlin at 10:03 PM on January 9, 2013

I wonder if he was actually able to capture the discharges on camera or if those were effects added in later?

Not sure. He says that the gun could go up to 25kV - that has an arcing distance of about 8mm in (dry) air. It looked to me that the arc distance was greater than that at times, but it was difficult to judge.

Very funny and educational video though - thanks for posting.
posted by YAMWAK at 11:36 PM on January 9, 2013

Am I mistaken about what happened in the last zap? It looks like the ESD charged up a couple of large capacitors, which discharged when he touched them. That used to be one of my favorite pranks in physics class, hold a capacitor by the case, with the long leads sticking out. Charge it up, "hey catch!"
posted by charlie don't surf at 3:53 AM on January 10, 2013

@Charlie: The circuit board is on a slab of insulating Teflon. He's charging the whole board to 25kV relative to ground. So there's a big wad of electrons just sitting there, distributed about the surfaces of the board. When he touches it, the board and the human / earth must redistribute that wad of electrons to reach a new equilibrium. The human's finger becomes the conduit for said redistribution.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:43 AM on January 10, 2013

I like the "Electricity can kill you" one.
posted by serena15221 at 9:57 AM on January 10, 2013

Back when I worked a day job, the company I worked with hired this older gentleman to do EMI testing for us. This often involved briefly touching various capacitors to various locations on power supply boards, to see if it had any effect in the EMI generated. Finished with any given capacitor, he'd just toss it back in the box.

I occasionally had call to rummage through that box for different items. It was often surprising. I guess he knew enough to only touch the plasticy bits...
posted by Chuckles at 12:58 PM on January 10, 2013

One of the finest Buck Rodgers episodes ever featured a race of aliens that ere intrinsically grounded (and thus were able to save the ship fom some catastrophe).

Maybe your coworker was one of them.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:00 PM on January 10, 2013