double pronged outlets, how come they are never plugged in wrong?

Question

So in England we have the ground prong so our cables are all the same, however I know in the states and other places they don’t, so how come no damage is caused if the positive and negative are the wrong way around?

In: 22

Answer 1

It’s *alternating current*; both prongs alternate “positive” and “negative” dozens of times every second. And yet still, because one of them might be “chassis/earth ground” (still more positive than the negative and more negative than the positive, dozens of times every second), most plugs (and jacks) in America have one prong slightly larger than the other so they can’t get “plugged in the wrong way”.