By: Fred Rice, Aaron Rankins, Alexis Villeda Sean Wingate Notes Section 3 By: Fred Rice, Aaron Rankins, Alexis Villeda Sean Wingate

Household Circuits In the United States, the voltage difference in most of the branches is 120 V. In some branches that are used for electric stoves or electric clothes dryers, the voltage is 240 V.

Household Circuits The main switch and circuit breaker or fuse box serve as an electrical headquarters for your home. Parallel circuits branch out from the breaker or fuse box to wall sockets, major appliances, and lights.

Household Circuits part 2 Many appliances draw current from the same circuit. If more appliances are connected, more current will flow through the wires. When the amount of current increases, the amount of heat produced in the wires increases too. If the wires get too hot, the insulation will melt and the bare wires can cause a fire. To avoid the overheating of the wires, all household circuits contain a fuse or a circuit breaker.

Fuses Part 1 When you hear someone has “blown a fuse” it means that the person has lost his or her temper. This expression comes from the function of an electrical fuse, which contains a small piece of metal that melts if the current becomes too high. When it melts, it causes a break in the circuit, stopping the flow of current through the over loading circuit.

Fuses Part 2 To enable current to flow again in the circuit, you must replace the blown fuse with a new one. Ho

Circuit Breaker A circuit breaker is another device that prevents a circuit from overheating and causing a fire.A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overcurrent/overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to interrupt current flow after Protective relays detect faults condition