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OCR Gateway Physics

1) Static electricity is charge at rest, while electric current is the flow of electric charge carried by electrons through an electrical conductor like metal or carbon. 2) Resistors control electric current in a circuit by changing the resistance that the flowing current must overcome. Increasing resistance decreases current. 3) Fuses are placed in circuits to prevent overheating and fires if the current becomes too high. Fuses melt and break the circuit when current exceeds safe levels.

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121 views1 page

OCR Gateway Physics

1) Static electricity is charge at rest, while electric current is the flow of electric charge carried by electrons through an electrical conductor like metal or carbon. 2) Resistors control electric current in a circuit by changing the resistance that the flowing current must overcome. Increasing resistance decreases current. 3) Fuses are placed in circuits to prevent overheating and fires if the current becomes too high. Fuses melt and break the circuit when current exceeds safe levels.

Uploaded by

Freya Doshi
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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P4c Safe electricals Static electricity is charge that does not move.

. As soon as the charge becomes mobile it becomes electric current. An electric current is the flow of electric charge and charge is carried by negatively charged electrons. Charge can only flow through an electrical conductor such as metals and carbon. The electrons that flow through an electric current, flow in the opposite direction to conventional current. Resistors and resistance. A variable resistor (or rheostat) can control the current that flows in a circuit. It does this by changing the resistance that the flowing current has to overcome. Increasing the resistance of a rheostat means that less currents flows. The potential difference between two points in a circuit is the difference in voltage between these points. It is measured in volts using a voltmeter connected in parallel. For a fixed resistor, as the potential difference across it increases, the current increases. For a power supply, as the resistance increases, the current decreases. Resistance equals voltage or potential difference over current. Voltage or potential difference equals current times resistance. Current equals voltage or potential difference over resistance. Fuses. If a flex develops a fault, the current in the wire between the plug and the flex may get too high. This would cause the flex to get very hot and might cause a fire. Fuses are put into circuits to prevent electrical devices causing fires. The fuse is a high resistance piece of wire which melts when the current gets too high, breaking the circuit and stopping the current from flowing. This prevents the flex overheating and causing a fire. Fuses also prevent electrocution. If there is a fault on an appliance with metal casing, the metal can become live and the charge will flow through the body to earth of anyone who is touching it. These appliances must have an earth wire connected to their casing so that, if the casing becomes live, the charge flows through the earth wire to earth. This current is huge and makes the fuse melt. When a fuse in a plug blows, it often causes the fuse in the fuse box of a house to blow as well. Modern fuse boxes contain resettable circuit breakers that switch off. These do not need to be replaced or restored, just reset. A plug contains three insulation wires. The live wire is brown and carries a high voltage. The neutral wire is blue completes the circuit, providing a return path for the current. The earth wire is yellow and green and prevents the casing of the appliance from becoming live.

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