Controls and Procedures CHAPTER 13 179 computer overheats, the components inside it can be permanently damaged. While the temperature of the server room may feel comfortable to you, the inside of a computer can be as much as 40° warmer than the air outside the case. The hardware inside the case generates heat, raising the interior tempera- ture. Computers are equipped with fans to cool the power supply, processor, and other hardware, so that temperatures do not rise above 110°. If these fans fail, the heat can rise to a level that destroys the hardware. The machine may not fail immediately, rather it may experience reboots, "blue screens of death," memory dumps, and other problems that occur randomly. C hip creep (also known as socket creep ) can occur due to the expansion and con- traction that occur in motherboards and other circuit boards. As the circuit boards expand and contract, it causes the computer chips on these boards to move until they begin to lose contact with the sockets in which they are inserted. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is another threat to equipment, as static electricity can damage hardware components so they cease to function. To damage a com- puter chip, it requires only a discharge of 20 or 30 volts. Humidity levels can increase ESD. If the humidity in a room is below 50%, the dry conditions cre- ate an atmosphere that allows static electricity to build up. This creates the