I plugged in an appliance. It immediately created a loud noise and spark. Had to go to the circuit break to flip the power back on. Was it a current overflow in the cord?
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Ground fault protection. To put it simple: when you plug something to the mains as much is supposed to go in to tour device as comes out. Your circuit breaker senses this constantly, if the amount of power going in or out doesn’t match, it trips open. This is to prevent you or the device getting electrocuted. Either electricity is going somewhere where it shouldn’t, or is coming from where it shouldn’t. Which ever the case is, the safest bet is to trip the circuit open.
Now how sensitive this switch is, depends on the protection syatem and the kind of rating the socket is designed for.
Appliances consume a high inrush current when first switched on, especially if they consist of a powerful motor or a DC power supply of a computer. They charge capacitors as quickly as possible, or to spin up the motor from standstill. If the nominal power is 1 kW or greater, it could trip the circuit breaker if other devices are also drawing power at the same time. Or your appliance could be broken and have short circuited.
There are other Appliances likely drawing current too. As Amperage increases the pop should also, it is electricity briefly arcing across air same as static or lightning. Always turn off devices before unplugging or plugging
Likely, You really want to unplug it before you flip the breaker, to guard against a fire. Since you don’t seem to have burned the building down, let’s presume it was a piece of wire causing a short. The sound you heard was the wire turning into gas, and apparently not condensing back into a short circuit.
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