Chapter 2
Safety First
In This Chapter
Avoiding those nasty shocks
Keeping your electric components safe from static discharge
Working safely with tools
Keeping yourself and your workspace neat and tidy (and safe)
W
e won’t kid you: Electricity deserves your respect.It can shock you,
burn you, and even kill you. In this book, we stick with projects that
work with AA batteries to limit the potential for serious damage.Still, anytime you work with electronics, there is potential for danger. If these
projects get you excited about electronics so that you move on to projects
that use bigger jolts of electricity, now is the time to learn the proper respect
for electricity and the proper safety precautions when working with electron-
ics projects.In this chapter, you discover what electricity is capable of — and how to keep
yourself, electrical components, tools, and those near and dear to you safe.This is the one must-read chapter in this book. Humor us, and read it from
top to bottom, okay?Avoiding Shocks Like the Plague..................................................................
Your body is a delicate machine. Electric shocks, depending on certain condi-
tions, can be fatal, even at relatively low voltages. What comes out of your
wall outlet is deadly if you play around with it. Even electrical gadgets work-
ing off batteries can cause you serious damage.