Does it do any good to have esd chairs if the floor is not esd?
The best way to answer your question is by using a couple of analogies. A chain is only as good as its weakest link. In the case of an electrical chain, the weak link is the result of a breach in conductivity. A loose or disconnected wire is the most simple example. Think of a person’s body as an isolated conductive object (AKA a capacitor) capable of storing static electricity. Kind of like a two-legged Van-de-Graff generator sitting on static generating carpet with no place to discharge. Think of the conductive chair as the same thing. The chair might be conductive but unless it is sitting on a conductor like an ESD floor, there’s a break in the chain. Remember, charge can not discharge through plastic or other electrically insulative flooring materials. When the static charged body approaches and then sits in the conductive chair, the static charge on the body will immediately flow to the chair until both the body and the chair share the same charge. We call this, sharing potential.
