Fuses & Trip Switches
Physics: Cambridge International GCSE Supplement, topic 4.10.4
Fuses and Trip Switches
Fuses and trip switches protect us from electrical appliances by stopping the flow of electric current flow if it gets too high. This stops the appliance overheating.
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.
Trip switches
- Trip switches are special devices that switch off the flow of current if the current is higher than a certain value.
- Trip switches do the same job as fuses but can be used lots of times.
Test yourself on Fuses & Trip Switches
Which of these is not a property of trip switches?