Electrostatic Discharge Information

Electrostatic discharge (ESD), is static electricity or the release of static electricity. ESD can damage the electronic components of a computer such as the disk drive, motherboard, processor, memory, PCI and ISA boards, etc.

ESD occurs when you touch an object that conducts electricity, and that object is at a different electrical potential than you are. A difference in electrical potential can be created by walking across a carpet or certain types of tile, by petting a cat, or touching other animal hair. ESD is actually a spark that jumps from you to the electrical component. Even though the spark seems small and insignificant, it can contain many hundreds, or even thousands, of volts that can drastically damage the electrical components of the module.

To protect your memory module from ESD damage, keep the module in its original ESD-protective package. Do not remove it from the protective packaging until immediately before you are ready to Install it into the socket inside your computer.

Generating Static

The table below shows how different activities generate static electricity at different electrostatic voltage levels.