Confirming Pages

18.11

673

ELECTRICAL SAFETY

Refrigerator

Wall
outlet

Magnified

Twopronged
plug

Short circuit
to case

Emf
Ground

(a)
Circuit completed through ground
Refrigerator

Wall
outlet

Magnified

Threepronged
plug

Short circuit
to case

Emf
Ground

(b)

Current travels along case through

third prong directly to ground

Figure 18.43 (a) If a refrigerator were connected with a twopronged plug to a wall outlet, a
short circuit to the case of the
refrigerator allows the circuit to
be completed through the body
of a person touching the refrigerator. (b) If a short circuit
occurs with a three-pronged
plug, the person is safe.

case directly to the ground through low-resistance wiring via the third prong in the wall
outlet. For safety reasons, the metal cases of many electric appliances are grounded.
Hospitals must take care that patients, connected to various monitors and IVs, are
protected from a possible short circuit. For this reason the patients bed, as well as anything else that the patient might touch, is insulated from the ground. Then if the patient
touches something at a high potential, there is no ground connection to complete the
circuit through the patients body.

Fuses and Circuit Breakers

A simple fuse is made from an alloy of lead and tin that melts at a low temperature. The
fuse is put in series with the circuit and is designed to meltdue to I2R heatingif the
current to the circuit exceeds a given value. The melted fuse is an open switch, interrupting the circuit and stopping the current. Many appliances are protected by fuses.
Replacing a fuse with one of a higher current rating is dangerous because too much current may go through the appliance, damaging it or causing a fire.
Most household wiring is protected from overheating by circuit breakers instead of
fuses. When too much current flows, perhaps because too many appliances are connected to the same circuit, a bimetallic strip or an electromagnet trips the circuit
breaker, making it an open switch. After the problem causing the overload is corrected,
the circuit breaker can be reset by flipping it back into the closed position.
Household wiring is arranged so that several appliances can be connected in parallel to a single circuit with one side of the circuit (the neutral side) grounded and the
other side (the hot side) at a potential of 120 V with respect to ground (in our simplified
dc model). Within one house or apartment, there are many such circuits; each one is
protected by a circuit breaker (or fuse) placed in the hot side of the circuit. If a short circuit occurs, the large current that results trips the circuit breaker. If the breaker were
placed on the grounded side, a blown circuit breaker would leave the hot side hot, possibly allowing a hazardous condition to continue. For the same reason, wall switches for
overhead lights and for wall outlets are placed on the hot side.

gia04535_ch18_640-692.indd 673

Application: household wiring

12/4/08 11:38:36 PM