2.4.4

Electrical Safety

Test yourself

Fuses and Circuit Breakers

Fuses and circuit breakers protect us from electrical appliances by stopping the flow of electric current flow if it gets too high. This stops the appliance overheating.

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Fuses

  • Fuses contain a thin wire that melts if the current flowing through an appliance is too high.
  • This breaks the circuit and stops the flow of electric current.
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Circuit breakers

  • Circuit breakers are special devices that switch off the flow of current if the current is higher than a certain value.
  • Circuit breakers do the same job as fuses but can be used lots of times.

Fuse Ratings and Circuit Breaker Settings

Fuses and Circuit Breakers must be chosen correctly to allow correct function.

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Fuse ratings

  • Fuse ratings tell us the level where a fuse will begin to melt. The fuse chosen should have a value just above the normal current that an electrical appliance uses.
    • For example, if the operating current is 3.9 A, and fuses with values of 3 A, 5 A or 13 A are available, the most suitable fuse is the 5 A fuse.

Jump to other topics

1Energy

2Electricity

3Particle Model of Matter

4Atoms & Radiation

5Forces

6Waves

7Magnetism

8Astrophysics

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