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Welcome everyone, today we are going to learn about static electricity.
And this is Paul, he works for Bekaert, the industry leader in antistatic fiber technology.
Paul, how does static electricity work? Well, it is an imbalance between negative
and positive charges in objects. But what does this mean?
You have probably experienced it yourself when you pulled off a woolen sweater the hairs
on your arms stood up, well, that's electrostatic
energy! In practice this could be bad like when touching
electronic parts... or even people.
But even without a woolen sweater, there's always a chance static electricity could build
up. However, Bekaert has a practical solution
for these problems, just watch these examples.
Paul is inspecting a gasplant. With each step he, he becomes more and more
charged due to the rubbing of his arms with his clothing.
Charged Paul touches a gas tap and he feels a spark.
Paul has to repair a gas leakage. He walks through the gas plant and with each
step he takes he becomes more and more charged. The charges are coming from his feet and from
above due to the rubbing of his arms with his clothing.
Charged Paul approaches the gas pipe which has a gas leakage and touches the pipe.
Paul is heading over to a production unit. He comes in the proximity of a charged BigBag
and the charges are attracted to Paul's clothing by
induction. Charged Paul approaches a metal gas pipe which
has a gas leakage and touches the pipe.
Well Paul, these examples have shown us how static electricity is created:
Electrostatic energy builds up in 3 ways: through the movement of a person like the
contact and separation of their shoe soles and the ground.
Also, through the contact of a person's clothing and their body.
And lastly, by induction, for example when a person comes into the electrical field of
a charged object. And what affected the charge your body built
up in these last examples? Two factors: one, the resistance of a body person to the ground.
The higher the resistance, the higher the charge.
And two, the atmospheric humidity- the lower the relative humidity, the higher the charge.
Paul is inspecting the plant but this time he's wearing antistatic shoes in addition
to the antistatic workwear.
When he walks, the charges created by rubbing his arms against his clothing are immediately
grounded.
No sparks or explosions occur when he touches a metal gas tap or pipe.
Paul is heading over to the production unit but this time he's wearing antistatic shoes
in addition to the antistatic workwear.
He comes in the proximity of a charged Bigbag and the charges are attracted by
Paul's clothing by induction. The charges immediately flow over Paul to
the ground. When Paul moves away from the charged Bigbag,
the flow of charges from the Bigbag to the person stop and the remaining charges leave
Paul and are grounded
Well Paul, why do we need to be grounded? To prevent charge build-up on a person and
their clothing, and to provide static charges on a person or on their clothing a path to
ground to prevent shocks or explosions in the future.
How can we ground ourselves? In potentially explosive atmospheres, personnel
are grounded by wearing antistatic shoes in combination with antistatic garments.
We hope Paul demonstrated the advantages of wearing proper protection and from now on
we hope you'll keep it safe too! As a bonus, we have some scientific footage
from our lab proving how efficient our product really is.
Stay safe! Stay grounded!