Electricity in the Home

1. Electricity in the Home Focus 3: Series and parallel circuits serve different purposes in households and Focus 6: Safety devices are important in household circuits.

2. Series and Parallel Circuits • identify the difference between series and parallel circuits

3. Compare parallel and series circuits in terms of voltage across components and current through them.

4. Ammeters and Voltmeters • Ammeters are used to measure the current in a circuit. • They are placed in series to allow the same current to flow through them as flows through the components in the circuit. They have a low resistance to ensure that they don’t block the flow of current. • Voltmeters are used to measure the difference in energy between two points in a circuit (the electrical potential difference or voltage) • They are placed in parallel with the part of the circuit you are trying to measure so as to be able to measure the change in potential from one side to the other. They have a high resistance so little current is diverted through the voltmeter

5. Circuits in the House Fromhttp://www.nointrigue.com/docs/notes/physics/phys_y11circuits.pdf • Why are there different circuits for lighting, heating and other appliances in a house? When a current passes through a conductor, heat is generated. The amount of heat generated increases as the current through the conductor increases. Each piece of household wiring is designed to carry a certain maximum current without overheating. However, different devices have different power requirements and have different current requirements because voltage is the same in all domestic supplies. So, for example, the circuit connecting devices requiring high currents (e.g. ovens and hot-water systems), it would be necessary to use thicker wiring to avoid overheating and circuit breakers that are designed for the high current. Thus, different circuits are needed for lighting, heating and other appliances because the current requirement is different for each one.

6. Compare the structure of a household circuit for different purposes. In general, there are a number of circuits each designed to carry a certain maximum current, each with a fuse in the active wire. There are separate circuits for light outlets, power outlets, the stove and the hot-water system. The outlets in each circuit are connected in parallel, so that each appliance will have 240 V across it. There is a switch in series with each outlet, enabling each appliance to be switched on and off independently of the other appliances; this switch is on the active side of the appliance because if the switch were on the neutral side, the appliance could cause an electric shock even if it were switched off. Furthermore, some domestic appliances, such as pottery kilns and large air conditioners, use three-phase alternating current. Three-phase AC is supplied using three active wires, each one-third of a cycle out of phase with the other two, and one neutral wire. It can supply a more consistent power to a device because current continues to be supplied to the other two phases when the third is zero, resulting in a more consistent flow of current and a corresponding increase in power to the device.

7. Electric Shock • discuss the dangers of an electric shock from both a 240 volt AC mains supply and various DC voltages, from appliances, on the muscles of the body

8. Safety Devices • describe the functions of circuit breakers, fuses, earthing, double insulation and other safety devices in the home