Chapter 23.2, Problem 34SSC

To determine

To Describe: Three common safety devices associated with household wiring.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

If the household wiring is connected in series and any appliance stops working, the whole circuit would break. This would cause the other appliances to not work as well. So, the household wiring is connected in parallel because if there is any problem in one connection, it would not affect the appliances connected through other branches.

The three common safety devices associated with household wiring are:

Fuse: Whenever there is over current in the circuit, the fuse which has low melting point, melts and breaks the circuit.

Circuit breaker: It operates automatically detecting the fault condition and discontinues the flow of electricity.

Ground-fault interrupter: It detects small change in the current and swiftly cuts off power to prevent electric shock.