Lesson 8.

Electrical Safety
 explain the functions of
Objective circuit breakers, fuses,
earthing, double
At the end 1 insulation, and other
of the
safety devices in the
lesson, you
home.
should be
able to:
 Learn about It!

Overloading
• Most of the circuit lines in our homes are connected in
parallel.
• On parallel circuits, we found out that if more devices are
connected, the overall resistance of the circuit decreases.
• Hence, increasing the overall current in the circuit.
 Learn about It!

Overloading
• If the current flowing through a circuit exceeds the current
capacity of the wire, then the circuit is said to be
overloaded.
• Overloaded circuits are very dangerous. On some occasions,
the insulation on the wires melt due to overloading.
 Learn about It!

Overloading
• If the resistances which are connected parallel are low, high
total current will be produced.
 Learn about It!

Short Circuit
• An electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an
unintended path with no or a very low resistance.
• If the circuit is short, high current will flow through the
connection which can produce high level of temperature.
 Learn about It!

Short Circuit
• An example of short circuit
Overloading and short circuits are part of the
primary causes for household fires in the
Philippines.
 Learn about It!

Prevention of overloading and short circuits

Circuit breaker and fuse
• In the event that overloading occurs, fuse melts and the
current ceases to flow. Hence, breaking the circuit.
• The mechanism for circuit breaker is also similar. Once the
current exceeds the rating of the circuit breaker, it
immediately breaks the flow of current.
 Learn about It!

Prevention of overloading and short circuits

Circuit Breaker and Fuse
• Circuit breaker and fuse are connected series as shown
below.

Three devices connected in parallel with the source.

The fuse is connected in series.
 Learn about It!

Prevention of overloading and short circuits

Circuit breaker and Fuse

Examples of fuse and circuit breaker.

 Learn about It!

Prevention of overloading and short circuits

Grounding
• is simply connecting the case of a metal appliance to Earth.
• Due to grounding, the current will pass flow to Earth, and
not to your body.
 Learn about It!

Prevention of overloading and short circuits

Grounding

Grounding the metal casing of an appliance.

 Learn about It!

Prevention of overloading and short circuits

Double Insulation
• Some appliances do not have ground wires.
• In such appliances, electric shock is prevented through the
means of double insulation.
• In a double insulated appliance, the internal part is covered
with plastic.
• Thus, a live wire cannot touch the external casing.
 Learn about It!

Effects of current to the human body

Current (A) Effect/s

0.001 Can be felt

0.005 Very Painful

0.010 Causes spasms or sudden

involuntary muscular contraction

0.015 Loss of muscle control

0.070 Fatal, particularly if current passes

through the heart
It’s actually the amperage that is dangerous,
not the voltage.
 Learn about It!

Amperage and Voltage: Bird example

A bird resting on a high voltage wire.

• Current only flows when there is a difference in voltage.
• As such, even if the wire was is rated at a thousand volts,
the bird would still remain unharmed since there is no
difference in the voltages between its feet.
Key Points

Overloading refers to the condition wherein the current

flowing in a circuit exceeds the current capacity of the
1 wire. To address the dangers of overloading, circuits are
built with fuses and circuit breakers.

Short circuit occurs when the path of the current in the

2 circuit is shortened causing resistance to decrease that will
result to a surge of current.

Electric shock is prevented through the means of

3 grounding or double insulation.
 Check Your Understanding

Write T if the statement is true and if false,

underline the word/s which makes the
statement incorrect.
1. Overloading occurs when the path in circuit becomes shortened.
2. Short circuit can cause electric shock to a human body delivering
high amounts of resistance to it.
3. Fuse are used to prevent surge of high electric current in a
circuit.
 Challenge Yourself

A live wire was dropped on a pure water. If you are

to touch the surface of the water, will you be
harmed?
 Bibliography

ABS-CBN News. 2018. “In the Know: The top 3 causes of fire in PH”.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/01/18/in-the-know-the-top-3-causes-of-fire-in-ph

Hewitt, Paul G. 2010. Conceptual Physics (11th ed) . New York: Pearson Education.

Laurel-Sotto, Rosario. 2005. Science in Today’s World Series. SIBS Publishing House, Inc.

Young, H. and Freedman, R. 2008. Sears and Zemansky's University Physics ( with
Modern Physics) (12th ed.). USA: Pearson Education.