I must admit, the question didn’t arrive with the above phrasing. I changed the equivalent of funny looking bag with warnings on it to ‘anti-static bags.’ Most, if not all, electronics are now coming in silver, pink, or another unique styled bag and covered with warnings about static electricity. Computer components, cell phones, and even my EZ-Pass have all been spotted in these bags. But the standard consumer has no idea why such protection is necessary. There are two main reasons to focus on: protection from static electricity and protection from radio transmissions.
The human body has a remarkable ability of building up an electrostatic charge. In the winter time, I tend to shock my poor cats every time I want to give them a little scratch. This is because by simply walking over the carpet, I’m building up excess charge on my body. This voltage can reach up to two thousand volts. Although the voltage is high, a discharge only stings a little because the energy transfer is very small. Unfortunately, the voltage is strong enough to literally punch holes into the microscopic transistors found in today’s electronic devices. This will either shorten the lifespan of or completely disable the device. This discharge of static electricity is suitably called Electrostatic Discharge and commonly shortened to ESD. The anti-static bags that computer peripherals, memory, CPUs, and other devices are being shipped in acts as a shield. Static electricity can not get through the bag to damage whatever device is inside of it.
There’s another purpose of these bags that EZ-Pass users are at least slightly aware of. For those not in the know, EZ-Pass is a simple way of paying tolls on the road by having an identification device inside of the car that automatically bills your account when you drive through the toll. Each pass comes with a little anti-static bag. If ever you don’t want to use the pass going through a toll, you can put the pass into the bag to prevent it from being read. This is because the anti-static bags also block radio-waves from penetrating it.
In the very near future I’ll be discussing RFID in a little more detail, particularly in regards to security.
To summarize: Anti-static bags block static electricity discharges and radio wave penetration.
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