ELECTRICAL ENERGY IN THE HOME

Table for effects of electric shock

Current (mA)
< 10

Effects
Imperceptible or slight tingling
sensation

20

Painful; person cannot let go

30
70
100
>200

Breathing affected
Breathing very difficult
Death due to fibrillation
No fibrillation or breathing: severe
burns

Detailed effects
Person experiences minor paralysis
at the point of contact and
contracts the muscles.
The person will not be able to let
go of the power source due to
involuntary contraction. The
diaphragm and chest muscles are
involuntarily contracted hence
making it difficult for the person to
breathe. Burns the skin and even
soft tissues. (20 100 mA)

Fibrillation occurs where the heart

oscillates in irregular patterns
rather than normal pumping.
Severe burns and instant death
usually occur.

Dot points of the effects of electric shocks (generalized)

An electric shock is a violent disruption of the nervous and muscular system caused by passages of electric
currents running through the body. The muscles controlling the diaphragm cause it to clamp and you cannot
breathe. The heart muscle goes into fibrillation (heart beats with a weak or erratic rhythm and does not pump
effectively) and stops effective breathing. This current, depending on the strength will cause a disturbance of
the nervous system which is why it will often produce effects on the muscles of the body causing paralysis,
severe burns and even death.
Effects of DC voltages: Electrocution from DC voltages cause muscles to contract and go in a spasm, preventing
ventilation and may cause death due to the lack of oxygen to the brain. (is commonly caused by touching an
active wire whilst in the contact with the Earth). DC are less dangerous than AC as they do not cause fibrillation.
Effects of AC voltages: Electrocution from a 240-volt AC mains supply causes pains at the current entry and exit
points, involuntary contraction of muscles, inability to release grip, fibrillation (heart stops breathing regularly
and oscillates rapidly), a loss of consciousness and potentially death, the severity of the shock depends on the
current.

Discuss the dangers of an electric shock from both a 240 volt AC main supply and various DC voltages, from appliances,
on the muscles of the body.
An electric shock is a consequence of electricity passing through the body, causing damage to the skin, soft tissues,
muscles and nerves. Electric shocks are excruciatingly painful and can cause death as well as severe disability due to
paralysis. The heat generated by electric currents as it passes through the body can cause severe burns. A negligible flow
of current will not cause any harm to the body. Human skin has a very high electric resistance which means that if the
body makes contact with a power source, the skins high resistance will minimize the size of the current flowing through
the body and may even prevent a serious electric shock. Conversely, if the bodys electrical resistance is lowered
radically such as when the skin makes contact with water, there will be an increase in the size of the current flowing
through the body. This will create a huge shock and create furthermore damage.

The pathway of electric current in human body Current passing from one arm to the opposite leg does the most
critical damage. This is because the current passes through the chest which is more likely to stun the heart and affect
breathing. This pathway means that the current passes through the greatest amount of body tissue, doing catastrophic
damage to the body.

Protective devices
Earthing direct connection to earth which causes zero voltage by connecting an earth connection back at the power
station. There are active and neutral wires that are connected to the functional electric unit of the appliance to deliver
electricity. The earth wire is attached to the case of the appliance, which is made of metal. When plugged in, the active
and neutral wires are connected to the active and neutral connections of a power point which connect electricity from
power stations via the power grids. The ear wire is connected to a metal pipe which is connected down to the ground.
The large current that passes through the circuit as a result of low resistance will break circuit breakers or cause a fuse
to melt, encasing safety.
Fuses A fuse is a simple safety device. A fuse is a short piece of metal (alloy of lead and tin) connected in series with
the device that it controls. The fuse is designed to melt when a predetermined current passing through it exceeds its
threshold value. If there is an excessive amount of current flowing through the circuit due to faulty connection or circuit
overload, excessive heat is generated causing the fuse to melt. Since the fuse is in series with the circuit, the blow fuse
stops the current and disables the circuit, preventing fires.
Circuit breakers A circuit breaker functions similarly to a fuse. It breaks the circuit when current exceeds the threshold
value, thus ensuring safety and protecting the circuit from creating fires. Circuit breakers prevent overloading of
household circuits; they use an electromagnet to mechanically break the circuit when the current exceeds the maximum
value. The circuit breaker has a metal bar which is pulled away from its contacts by an electromagnet which stops the
current. In another type a bimetallic strip (two different metal strips joined back to back) heats up and bends breaking
the contacts. A circuit breaker consists of two strips of metal which include copper and iron, attached side by side. When
these metals are heated by the passing current, one metal expands more than the other, causing the metal pair to curve
towards the metal contracting. When the current passing this metal pair is large, the heat will cause the metal pair to
bend away so that the pair of metals detach itself from the circuit, this breaks the connection of the circuit.
Earth leakage devices/residual current devices protect against the flow of current to Earth. They monitor the current
flowing into the appliance and out of it. If the current leaving is less than that entering, leakage is occurring. As soon as
leakages are detected from a faulty appliance the device shuts down in as little as 300 ms. They are sensitive and can
operate with currents as small as 5 mA, much less than are needed to trigger a circuit breaker. Monitor the current
flowing in and out of a device. When there is a discrepancy between the two values, the ELD shuts down the circuit, the
leftover current flows over to the earth wire as a result.
Insulation The most common method often used to prevent electric shocks such as encasing electrical components of
appliances with insulating material. The insulating property of these materials set up a physical barrier which prevents
the flow of electricity from the appliance to the user. The most common material used is PVC which is a type of plastic
that has the best insulating capabilities and is flexible. Examples of insulated materials include plastics or rubbers.
Double insulation is the flexible insulator covering (such as PVC) covering all household electrical wiring in case the
inner insulation fails with two layers.
Ground fault circuit interrupt (GFCI) A ground fault circuit interrupt is a device that detects a small proportion of
mismatch in currents (within a neutral and live wire), in order to prevent electrocution from occurring.
Central circuit breaker panel A fuse box panel which usually is in the basement or a closet. A central panel includes
about a dozen circuit breaker switches leading to various circuits in the house.

ELECTRICAL ENERGY IN THE HOME

Explain why houses need electrical safety devices. In your explanation include examples of deices and the relative
merits of each device.
Electrical safety devices are necessary and are needed in homes to prevent electrocution and catastrophes in the home
from occurring such as house burning down, fatalities via fibrillation and severe burns. Safety devices prevent an excess
of current flowing in the house in order to lower the risks of possible death or dangerous havocs. Safety devices include:
fuses, insulation, circuit breakers and earth leakage devices. A fuse is a simple mechanism with a piece of metal that
prevents a certain current flow, flowing through it or prevents electrical appliances from working. A circuit breaker is a
bimetallic strip where one of the pieces of metal will bend when the heat generated by the current is excessive, the
current causes the strip to bend, breaking the circuit. Earth leakage device monitors the current flowing in and out of a
device. When there is a discrepancy between the two values (required amount of current and current being used in the
house) the appliance shuts off. Double insulation is also a method used to prevent electrical appliances giving off current
to people touching the device, this double insulation is done through the use of PVC. The purpose of these devices
prevent excess of current running in a house and prevent electrocution from occurring.
Outline ways electrical shocks may impact the human body. In your answer compare how different levels of shock
may affect the body.
Electrical shocks can have negative and positive impacts on the body depending on the level of the shock. Negative
impacts of electrical shocks cause severe burns, fatalities, fibrillation, DNA mutation and muscle contractions, lowering
heart rates and respiration levels. An electric shock of 110^-6 amps causes a shock or tingling sensation flowing
throughout the body causing a spasm. An excess of current ranging from 30 ma AC and above cause death as muscles
contract, the body loses control and starts to spaz and the electrical impulses cause a disruption to the blood flow and
cause heart fibrillation as well as mental olfactory damaging the brain and neural system. Respiratory paralysis occurs as
the muscles that control breathing cannot move and at 4 amps stop the heart from pumping. As heart starts to pump
more slow, the body lacks oxygen and thus eventually fatality can occur due to the lack of oxygen supply. 200 AC amps
causes instant death and the corpse is severely burnt. However, a positive impact could be used known as defibrillation
where electricity can be used to resuscitate a person. Electrical impulses cause the heart to reactivate and hence causes
normal blood flow, therefore resuscitating the patient.
Describe why electricity might be supplied to industry and domestic uses with different voltage.
Electricity is used because it is the cheapest source of power for commercial obligations such as industrial production.
Industries would need several loads of electric current to run generators and motors in processing packages and creating
products. Electricity runs to local and industrial/national economy in the world. Industrial obligations require huge
amounts of power (E i) because of heavy machinery required for production example car manufacturing. Thus,
industries require large amounts of voltage in order to run the equipment and large amounts of voltage are achieved
through step up transformers which are AC and generators. Three phase supply is the most powerful current/voltage
supply. Domestic appliances acquire less energy to operate appliances. Therefore, home supplies at a lower voltage (240
V AC in households) to operate electrical appliances such as fridges, ACs, PCs, TVs and etc. Furthermore, home
adaptors (transformers) convert AC to DC for smaller obligations such as laptops, phones, calculators and etc which
require very low DC voltages (12 V).
Neutral wire Neutral wire is one of the wires that delivers electricity into a household from a power station. The wire is
maintained at earth potential.
Active wire - The active wire is one of the wire that brings electricity to a household from a power station. The wire has
a voltage that varies from +340V to -340V with respect to the neutral wire.

ELECTRICAL ENERGY IN THE HOME

Diagrams
Fuses

Earth wire

Most appliances are connected through a power outlet

by three-point plug, connected to a lead containing three
wires which continue the active, neutral and earth wires
to the appliance.

The active and neutral wire provides power to the

appliance. The earth wire is connected to the casing of
the appliance. The earth wire provides protection in case
the active wire comes in contact with the casing unless it
has double insulation.