Engineering revisited

Earlier, I talked about this mighty fine piece of engineering design work. Way cool. That's what happens when people understand engineering design principles.

Not everybody does, though. Not everybody understands the principles of sound engineering. Consider the following encounter I once had.

I was telling somebody about this interesting diode-based device that I had received. Like a curious layperson, he said, "Can I see it?" I replied, "No, I'd rather not. It's a static-sensitive device; that's why it's enclosed in an anti-static bag. I'd rather wait until I have it under controlled conditions before opening it up."

He shot back, "That's nonsense! You can handle electronic devices all the time, and they're not going to get fried from a little static electricity. Not unless you have nanometer-sized transistors in their."

"It's not that simple," I replied. "It's not just a matter of device size. You also have to consider the type of device and the materials used. For example, CMOS devices are notoriously static-sensitive, whereas TTL devices are not."

He said, "You know what? I know people who handle blood samples with a lot of ceremony and ritual, whereas others don't. We just don't need to be that complicated."

"And how is that relevant?" I asked. "Blood and circuits are two different things. Let's say that those people are indeed overly cautious. How does this prove that static electricity is not a problem when handling circuits?"

"Look, our company has built hundreds of computers. We've never had a problem with static electricity."

"So what?" I said. "That's like saying that you've driven thousands of miles without a seatbelt, and so seatbelts are unnecessary. All it takes is one accident. Every competent technician knows that certain electronic devices are very much static sensitive."

"Well, you and I are both wearing cotton clothing. We're not going to generate static electricity -- not unless we were wearing synthetics."

"That's not true," I said. "Sure, synthetics might increase the amount of static generated -- but that doesn't mean that we won't build up any static charge right now."

"You're just being fearful," he said. "You need to develop some courage."

"You're being reckless," I said. What I really wanted to say, however, was "You're an idiot."