I’ve just watched an old tv show where the main character is tortured in someone’s basement with a live wire. The current is obviously flowing from the wire, through him and into the ground. Why does this not cause the fuse to blow?
I think this is probably just an error on their part, but I’m kinda curious now if that’s actually correct or not. I’m tempted to steal the idea for a book I’m writing but I’d need to know first whether or not that’s a valid method of torturing someone (never thought I’d find myself writing that sentence 😆).
In: 5
Haha that’s a good question.
Fuses present too much current from going through – think of it like pressure build up. Now if you’re not connected to ground, it is very possible that this will trigger your fuse because the pressure will continue to build up.
However, if you’re the path to ground in an easy manner, then the circuit might not draw enough power to trip the fuse. Electricians thought about this when designing GFCIs (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters) – those are the special outlets that you see in your kitchen and bathroom. Thy work by looking for a mismatch between incoming and outcoming current.
If you’re going straight to ground, the incoming current is not equal to the outcoming because some of it is going to ground; and the circuit trips and cuts power! This also happens with water.
So in short, it’s possible if they’re connected to ground that they wouldn’t trip the breaker – but only if the outlet isn’t a GFCI one!
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