Can I ground myself outside by wearing electrostatic discharge (ESD) footwear?
ESD shoes are primarily designed for discharging static electricity, but to a degree they ground the body beneficially. They are better than regular shoes but not as good as going barefoot.
The difference between grounding and static discharge is that grounding instantly equalizes your body at Earth’s potential.
Static discharge (generally called a soft ground or a dissipative ground) is designed to slowly bleed off static electrical charges (contact and separation charges). These charges are created on the body by clothing and shoes whenever you move your clothing with arm movement or when you walk or sit on any synthetic material.
