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What is electricity? Today, electricity has become an essential part of our lives
and its hard to imagine life without it. Our households are full of electrical
appliances such as an electric bulb, electric bell, electric fan, iron, electric
heater, refrigerator, washing machine, etc. Do you know where does this electricity
in our house come from? They come from ‘electric circuits’. So, let us study more
about electric circuits below.
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(Source: FunScience)
In our homes, either the overhead electric poles or underground cables support the
power supply flowing through the main supply. One of the wires in this supply
covered with insulation in the color red is the live wire (or positive), and
another wire colored black is the neutral wire (or negative). At the meter-board,
these wires pass into an electric meter through the main fuse. The main switch,
live wire, and the neutral wire are in connection to the line wires in our homes;
these wires then supply electricity to separate electric circuits within the house.
The spinning turbines produce electricity, that flows into the power lines and to
our homes. Electricity moves through the wires very fast. In just a second,
electricity can travel around the world several times. From the power station where
the electricity is produced, it flows to large transmission lines held up by huge
towers. The transmission lines carry large amounts of electricity to substations in
cities and towns.
Electric fuse
An electric fuse is used as a safety device for the protection of electric circuits
and appliances due to short-circuiting or overloading of the electric circuits. The
electric fuse is a piece of wire having a very low melting point and high
resistance. When a high current flows through the electric circuits due to short
circuit or overloading, the fuse wire heats up and melts. The circuit is broken and
the current stops flowing thereby saving the electric circuits and appliance from
any damages. The capacities of fuse wire are rated as 1A, 2A, 3A, 5A, 10A, and 15A.
An electric composes pure tin or alloy of copper and tin.
Safety measures
Insulation
The materials which have very high resistivity offer a very high resistance to the
flow of the electric current and are insulating materials. These materials play an
important role in the domestic wiring as they protect us from shock and also
prevent the leakage of the current. Insulators can withstand overloading within
permissible limits for a short period of time. They should have the following
properties:
When an iron box is in use, the metallic body’s current increases to 110V. If we
accidentally come in contact with such a metallic body we are sure to get an
electric shock. To avoid shock due to current leakage in electrical appliances the
metallic body of the appliance should be in connection with the earth/ground.
Suppose due to some defect, the insulation of the live wire inside iron burns, then
the live wire may touch the metallic body of the iron. For this purpose, a separate
wire, ‘ the earth wire’, runs all through the circuits along with live and neutral
wires.
Usually, an electric appliance such as a heater, an iron box, etc. come with the
installation of all the three wires namely live, neutral and earth wires. Metal
bodies of all the appliances are therefore always in connection with the earth
wire. The free end of the earth wire is attached to a copper plate buried deep in
the ground. This leaves the body of the electrical appliances at the same potential
(zero) as the earth and hence when we touch the metal body we do not get a shock.
This is done to avoid accidental shock. Earthing is thus a safety device
incorporated in an electric circuit to protect the operator.
a. o V c. 220 V
b. 300 V d. 1000 V
Sol: c. 220 V
From electric poles situated in our street, two insulated wires L and N come to our
house. These two wires are called Neutral wire and Livewire the potential of these
two wires are zero volts and 220V.