In this article, we will tell you the ‘8 reasons behind this electrical equipment at our home’. We bet that you have never noticed it yet, but there are very important reasons for the following parameters. We are sure that you will be very interested and satisfied to know after reading this post.
Ready?? Let’s Dive in…
1. Why Earth Pin is Longer and Thicker in Three Pin Plug?
Answer: It is longer compared to the other two pins because when you insert the plug in the socket, the earth pin (longer pin) will first come in contact with the power supply before the other two (live and neutral). It so happens that any unwanted charges or faulty current which may be in the circuit already will be removed (in the ground) before the other two pins go inside the terminals. This process ensures your safety during the event of an equipment fault as they will flow under the ground through an earthen wire.
2. Why does a 3-pin Socket has 1 big hole and the other holes are small?
Answer: The earth pin is the bigger pin this is due to the fact that in order to prevent of getting inserted in the live or neutral slot of the socket even by mistake.
Secondly, in technical terms, the reason for the thicker pin is the law of resistance.
R = ρ (L/a)
Where:
- R = Resistance
- ρ = Resistivity
- L = Length of the Conductor
- a = Area of the conductor
As you can see from the above formula, resistance is inversely proportional to the area of the conductor. So, with the increase of the area of the conductor, resistance will decrease. Therefore, whenever there is a fault in a circuit, the current will always tend to flow with less resistance than flowing through the human body (as a human body at least has a resistance of 300Ω, which will be very high compared to earthen Pin resistance).
3. Why do we use MCB in-house wiring?
Answer: First of all, MCB stands for miniature circuit breakers. An MCB is an electrical switch that is automatically controlled to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by excess current from an overload or short-circuiting. The main function is to interrupt current flow until a fault has been found.
They are specially designed to trip during an overload or short circuit to protect against electrical faults and equipment failure. MCB is widely used as protecting components in domestic, commercial, and industrial settings.
4. Why do we not get an electric shock while using the domestic electricity tester (the one that looks like a screwdriver)?
Answer: Before giving an answer to this, let me tell you how a tester works.
A tester is essentially a light bulb (neon blub) in series with high resistance (in mega-ohm). When you insert the screwdriver front end into the ‘live’ terminal of the socket and touch your finger on the ‘metal head’ of the tester, you are making a close path. As current flow only in a close path, the neon bulb will experience a flow of current and start to glow.
What is keeping you safe is the high series resistance (rated in mega-ohm) within the tester. This resistance limits the current flowing through your body to safe minimum levels, not enough to be perceived as an electric shock.
The tester that we use domestically should be used only in 240V (in India). They should never be used for detecting higher voltages because the current flowing through your body will be greater and may potentially get you an electrical shock which is dangerous.
5. Why electrical Earthing is required in our home?
Answer: There are three wires which run through the domestic electrical circuits.
- Live wire
- Return or Neutral wire
- Ground or Earth wire.
In a normal situation when an appliance is switched ON the circuit completes its path from live wire to return wire.
But in case a splice of live wire comes in contact with the metal part of the appliance, then the user has a chance of getting shocked because he completes the circuit with the ground as the return conductor.
In order to ensure the safety of the users, a simple concept of current is flow i.e. current flows through the lowest resistance path. Therefore, as the earth wire has the lowest resistance path, the current will flow through it which will prevent our human body from getting an electric shock. [Note: Human body has a resistance of at least 300Ω which is high as compared to the earthen wire]
6. Why Capacitor is used in ceiling fans, tables, and water pumping motors?
Answer: Ceiling Fans, Table Fans, and Water pumping motors use single-phase motors. Capacitors are used in any single-phase motors in order to make them self-starting. If you don’t use a capacitor and only give a supply, it will not start and rotate. You have to give starting torque manually in order to make it rotate. Sometimes you would have seen that on turning the switch on the fan does not rotate but on giving it a little push it starts. For preventing this situation we add a capacitor.
One more reason is there that it also improves the power factor.
Also Read: What is Power Factor? Calculations, Disadvantages & Causes of having Low PF
7. Why don’t we get an Electric shock from DC current?
Answer: It’s absolutely incorrect Concept. Whether it is AC or DC you will experience shock when the voltage is above 50V in a dry condition which is an upper limit for the touch voltage. Hence any circuit operating over 50 V will have an extra shrouding or guarding as a safety barrier. Shock is experienced when a certain current flows to your body which is irrespective of the type of waveform you are in contact with.
Non-technical explanation: As DC current tries to push through your body, your body pushes back. This provides extra resistance that results in less current flowing. In the AC case, the change in direction defeats this extra resistance. Think of it like trying to fill a balloon that pushes back as it gets full. You can move more air if you alternate sucking and blowing.
8. Why there is a cut or split in the electrical plug?
Answer: Most cuts or splits are found in a Brass material and not in any other material such as aluminum, etc.
When excessive current flow through a plug/conductor there is a bad effect on thermal expansion. So, the pins of the electrical plug are cut so that they cannot change their shape when heated. Whenever electricity flows through such pins, the power is split into two parts due to the incision, so that they do not heat up quickly.
So there is no risk of damage to it. So if you are taking the plug, then make sure that there is a curt mark or not.
Also Learn: Why Transformers are Rated in KVA instead of KW?
That it!! Hope you have gained some knowledge from this piece of content. Electricalguide360.com is always happy to provide you with more quality and the latest updates on electrical-related content. So, Keep learning with us always. Thanks!
