Online Treasure Hunt-1

1. What is short circuit? What is the common cause of unintentional short circuits in electrical devices? ___---- A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) allows a charge to flow along a different path from the one intended. The electrical opposite of a short circuit is an open circuit, which is infinite resistance between two nodes. It is common to misuse "short circuit" to describe any electrical malfunction, regardless of the actual problem. ___----A short circuit is an accidental low-resistance connection between two nodes of an electrical circuit that are meant to be at different voltages. This results in an excessive electric current limited only by the Thevenin equivalent resistance of the rest of the network and potentially causes circuit damage, overheating, fire or explosion. Although usually the result of a fault, there are cases where short circuits are caused intentionally, for example, for the purpose of voltage-sensing crowbar circuit protectors. ___----In circuit analysis, the term short circuit is used by analogy to designate a zero-impedance connection between two nodes. This forces the two nodes to be at the same voltage. In an ideal short circuit, this means there is no resistance and no voltage drop across the short. In simple circuit analysis, wires are considered to be shorts. In real circuits, the result is a connection of nearly zero impedance, and almost no resistance. In such a case, the current drawn is limited by the rest of the circuit. ___----The Short Circuit is a more serious reason for a breaker tripping. A short is caused when the hot wire (black) touches another hot wire or touches a neutral wire (white). It can also be caused if there is a break in a wire in the circuit. Shorts are a bit more difficult to diagnose because they can be caused by the wiring in your home or in something you have plugged into an outlet. We have here the sample picture: