DANGERS OF ELECTRICITY
DANGERS OF ELECTRICITY

What are the dangers of electricity?
According to: Acceleratedstudynotes. (2012, 03 10). Danger of electricity. Retrieved from https://www.acceleratedstudynotes.com/2012/03/10/igcse-coordinated-science-dangers-of-electricity/

Dangers of Electricity contain a range of risks, which are Electric Shock, Psychological Damage, Physical Burns, Neurological Damage and Ventricular fibrillation resulting in death.
If not properly controlled or harnessed, can result in serious danger to those who use it. The risks with electric power can be divided into two categories: direct and indirect. The direct danger is the damage that the power itself can do to the human body, such as enabling someone to breathe or regular heartbeats, or burns. The indirect dangers of electricity include the damages that can result to the human body like something caused by electric shock, an explosion, or a fire. Electricity at any voltage can be dangerous and should always be handled with caution. An electric shock can occur upon contact of a human or animal body with any source of voltage high enough to cause enough current flow through the muscles or nerves. Dangers of an over heating cable: Sometimes another danger can begin if an extreme current flows in the wires. They will heat up and the insulation can melt which will cause it to produce poisonous fumes or even catch fire. Therefore it is advice to avoid using appliances that draw too much current from the supply.

Dangers of a damaged insulator: The wires in each cable are insulated from one another. The cable has more protective insulation around the outside. If this insulation is damaged, there is a chance that the user will touch the bare wire and get an electric shock. There is also a chance that the current will flow between two bare wires, or from one bare wire and any piece of metal it comes into contact with.

Dangers with damp conditions: When using electricity it is important to avoid wet or damp conditions because water is a conductor of electricity, So if your hands are wet when you touch an electrical appliance, the water may provide a conductive path for current to flow from a live wire through you to earth. That could prove fatal.

Avoiding dangers using a fuse? There are many ways in avoiding dangers using a fuse. On of them is that immediately some thing blows up you could change it with immediate effect causing less damage * Over heating cables:
The fuses limit the electrical flow of the circuit. The fuse is the same size as the wire.it is not safe to put it in an over sized fuse because it will allow too much current for the circuit which will lead to overheating of the circuit and possibly cause a fire.

* Damaged electric insulators:
A fuse is device that is included in circuits to stop excessive current from flowing. It contains a thin section of wire, designed to melt and break if the current gets above a certain value.

Avoiding dangers using a circuit breaker:

A circuit breaker is an automatic switch, which cuts off the current in a circuit. It has the same effect as a fuse but unlike a fuse it cannot be turned on again after is has been turned off. * Over heating cables: A circuit breaker helps prevent damage of over heating cables by reducing the amount of electrons that flow in the electric current Bibliography:

http://ecmweb.com/ops-amp-maintenance/basics-electrical-overheating http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/overheated-cables-thought-to-have-caused-lopik-fire http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/mains-power-and-the-danger-of-electricity/2195.html