• Question: How does the plug work ?

    Asked by n1ral to Daniel, Jon, Louise, Sharon, Zoe on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Jon Copley

      Jon Copley answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Bath plug – blocks plughole, keeping water in bath.

      Electrical plug – don’t know. My wife banned me from doing any more DIY on the electrics in our house, after a near-accident. I was certain that the wire I was cutting couldn’t have any electrical current running through it. Turns out I was wrong. Fortunately I was using rubber-handled shears. Big bang and flash, and it melted a notch in the metal blades of the shears. 🙁

    • Photo: Louise Dash

      Louise Dash answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      It’s quite simple really, it just makes an electrical connection to allow a current to flow from the wall socket to whatever you’ve plugged in.

      It’s most important because of its safety features though – it has a fuse in, which is a thin wire that will break and cut the circuit if you try and pass too much current through it. Plus it has an “earth” connection that’s usually connected to the outside metal bits of whatever you’ve plugged in. This connection goes through the socket and the wires in your house straight down into the ground (hence the name ;)) That way, if something goes horribly wrong with your hairdryer or toaster, say if the live wire touches the outside, the electric current will flow through this earth circuit (and hopefully blow the fuse!) If you touched the appliance instead, and it wasn’t connected to the earth, the electricity would flow through you, and you’d get electrocuted! (I don’t recommend trying this…)

    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Plugs attach to electrical wiring using three color-coded wires. The colours in the plug are Earth – Green and Yellow, Neutral – Blue and Live – Brown. Once the plug’s wires are connected, the plug can be put in the wall where it can conduct electricity.

      With the plug properly wired and placed in a socket, anything requiring electric power can be plugged into the outlet. When the metal prongs of the plug are inserted into socket, a conductive connection is created between the appliance and the sockets electrical wiring. This connection allows electricity to pass freely from the electrical wiring into the item, providing the power for the appliance to function.

    • Photo: Zoe Duck

      Zoe Duck answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      When you plug something in it is connected to the electrical wiring in the house to create a full circuit allowing electricty to flow through the appliance making it work.

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