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Re: [Phys-l] operating room physics



On 03/02/2010 12:45 PM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:
I'm teaching electricity soon. We often see doctors wearing blue plastic
covers for their shoes, mainly to prevent dirt/dust from entering the room
from the outside. These covers appear to be insulating. However, I read in
a physics book years ago that medical shoes/covers should be conducting so
that any static charge doctors may acquire will be discharged into the
floor. This is important so that a spark is not created in the presence of
oxygen gas used during an operation.

Not just oxygen, but flammable anesthetics. Bad combination.

I am a a bit confused with all of this. Do these shoe covers have metal
screens in them or something? Or is the spark risk very low?

I'd be willing to bet the booties are conductive.

First of all, if they were staticky, they would pick
up dust, defeating the nominal purpose.

Also, yes, you don't want sparks.

I doubt there are metal fibers involved. There are
lots of electrically conductive plastics. Sometimes
the bulk is conductive, sometimes only the surface,
but the latter is quite sufficient if you have a
woven product where each fiber is conductive.

And it doesn't require dead-short conductivity to
dissipate static electricity. In fact, the opposite
task, namely constructing something that will hold a
significant static charge, is quite a challenge.