Is antistatic pink bubble wrap really anti-static? (hard drive, icon, connection)

[thejackalope]

I bought a roll of Pratt bubble wrap at Home Depot today for shipping hard drives... I put a piece on my desk to lay a few drives on, and an hour later i noticed when I put my hand close to it I could feel a pretty strong static charge with the hairs on the back of my hand. I grounded myself to a coaxial cable running to a surge protector and still felt the static. I even tried touching the cable to the bubble wrap but it was still charged.

Shouldn't pink ESD bubble wrap be resistant to building up a charge, and easily dissipate its charge when touched to a grounded wire?

[NHDave]

Hard drives should be placed in anti-static bags for shipping or extended storage, you can get them pretty cheap.

Amazon.com: 30pcs 15cmx20cm Resealable Anti-Static Ziplock Bags for Hard Drive: Electronics

[westom]

Originally Posted by thejackalope

I bought a roll of Pratt bubble wrap at Home Depot today for shipping hard drives... I put a piece on my desk to lay a few drives on, and an hour later i noticed when I put my hand close to it I could feel a pretty strong static charge with the hairs on the back of my hand. I grounded myself to a coaxial cable running to a surge protector and still felt the static. I even tried touching the cable to the bubble wrap but it was still charged.

First, you have completely confused the many different grounds. Earth ground is completely irrelevant to a current created by static electricity. Ground is a subjective (vague) concept. We simply defined earth as a ground (ie for AC electricity) so that all charges can be measured relevant to a common point.

Second, For static electricity in the body, ground is where charges accumulate under your shoes. A static discharge of your body is a connection from any body part to the static electric ground underneath shoes. Protection of electronics means that current must not pass through electronics; must somehow make a non-destructive connection that ground.

Third, anti-static plastic wrap should not create static charges. Earliest wrap embedded soap into the plastic to make it electrically conductor. Extremely conductive to static electricity. Not conductive measured with a meter. If that plastic is conductive, then it would not generate static charges that are felt. Meanwhile grounding yourself to AC safety ground or earth ground does not dissipate those bubble wrap generated charges that can damage or overstress semiconductors.

Fourth, if your bubble wrap creates static charges, then room humidity is also too low. That static wrap is also telling you that you have also created a threat to semiconductor life expectancy.

[thejackalope]

I don't think I've confused them at all. I grounded myself so I should have 0 charge relative to the actual planet earth, and I touched the bubble wrap to the same ground wire. The bubble wrap and I should have been at the same potential. But I could stilll feel the charge. What finally got rid of the charge was going outside and dropping the piece of wrap on the concrete driveway

BTW this is a pretty high humidity environment-- Hawaii with no AC, probably 75F at the time

[westom]

Originally Posted by thejackalope

I don't think I've confused them at all. I grounded myself so I should have 0 charge relative to the actual planet earth,

AGain that is the point. The ground called planet earth is irrelevant to static electric discharges. Only ground that is relevant is defined by charges beneath the soles of your shoes.

Generation of static charges in humidity that exceeds 40% implies that so called 'anti-static' plastic is not.

[thejackalope]

Originally Posted by westom

AGain that is the point. The ground called planet earth is irrelevant to static electric discharges. Only ground that is relevant is defined by charges beneath the soles of your shoes.

Generation of static charges in humidity that exceeds 40% implies that so called 'anti-static' plastic is not.

My charge and the charge of the plastic were different, hence I could feel my hairs attracted to the plastic. This is after I grounded both myself and the bubble wrap to the actual earth ground.

[thelopez2]

Originally Posted by thejackalope

My charge and the charge of the plastic were different, hence I could feel my hairs attracted to the plastic. This is after I grounded both myself and the bubble wrap to the actual earth ground.

The bubble wrap is not highly conductive and will take effort, time, increased surface area contact, to "ground" it. Your high humidity helps but just takes time.