Let ’s take off with what the hole in anoutletdo . When you look at a normal 120 - volt vent in the United States , there are two vertical slots and then a round hole center on below them . The left slot is somewhat larger than the right . The left slot is address " neutral , " the veracious slot is called " live " and the hole below them is called " earth . " The prong on a plug fit into these slot in the outlet .
If you have readHow battery Work , you know that electrical energy must flow in acircuit . In a battery , electricity flows from one terminus of the battery to the other . In a house way out , power flows from hot to indifferent . The appliance you plug into an outlet completes the circle from the red-hot time slot to the neutral one-armed bandit , and electrical energy flows through the gadget to run amotor , heat some spiral or whatever . permit ’s say you punch a lite light bulb into the outlet . The power will flow from the blistering prong , through the filament and back to the neutral prong , create light in the process .
What if you were to plug a chummy strand of telegram straight from the hot slot to the neutral slot of an outlet ? Unlike an appliance , which limits the amount of electrical energy that can flow to 60 Watt ( for a weak electric-light bulb ) or 500 watts ( for atoaster ) , the telegram would let an unbelievable amount of electrical energy stream through it . Back in the breaker corner , the circuit surf for the outlet would notice this hugesurgeand it would cut off the flow of electricity . The circuit breaker preclude the wires in the wall or the way out itself from overheating and get going a fire .
The basis slot and the neutral slot of an outlet are indistinguishable . That is , if you go back to the ledgeman boxful , you will recover that the neutral and ground wires from all of the outlets go to the same place . They all connect to ground ( see How Power Distribution Grids Work for particular on grounding ) . Since they both go to the same seat , why do you take both ?
If you front around your house , what you will find is that just about every widget with a metallic element case has a three - prong exit . This may also include some matter , like yourcomputer , that have a alloy - encased top executive provision inside even if the gadget itself come in a plastic case . The idea behindgroundingis to protect the people who use metal - encased appliances from electric shock absorber . The case is tie in directly to the ground prong .
Let ’s say that awirecomes loose inside an ungrounded metallic element eccentric , and the at large conducting wire touch the metallic element case . If the loose wire is hot , then the metal case is now hot , and anyone who touches it will get a potentially fatal electric shock . With the display case ground , the electricity from the hot wire flow flat to ground , and this trigger the breaker in the breaker box . Now the appliance wo n’t work , but it wo n’t kill you either .
What happen if you cut off the ground prong or habituate acheater plugso you’re able to plug a three - prong appliance into a two - prong outlet ? Nothing really – the convenience will still operate . What you have done , however , is disable an important safety feature that protects you from electric shock if a wire come loose .
