Prongs might not be the right word for it.
In: Engineering
That is to do with polarity. In America, the ground of a plug is the left side, the earth the middle, and the hot the right. When something has a metal casing, when it is plugged in it has the possibility to become charged if there is a surge in electricity. When this happens, normally a lightening strike nearby but even some older amps and TVs that don’t have the earth prong can become charged. A little shock will happen with the latter two, but if the lines are actually struck by lightening there would be a huge spike in charge inside the appliance. When the resistance of the ground wire is too high at that voltage and amperage, the electricity will travel through the earth prong into the breaker box, tripping the breakers, and dissipating the charge into the ground.
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