The discussion revolves around the application of Ohm's Law in the context of circuit breakers and why they trip when too many appliances are connected. Participants explore the relationship between current, voltage, and resistance in both series and parallel circuits, as well as the implications of adding loads to a circuit.
Participants generally agree on the basic principles of current flow in parallel circuits but express differing views on the implications of these principles and the appropriateness of questioning others' knowledge. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best approach to learning and understanding electrical concepts.
Some participants note that the discussion involves assumptions about basic knowledge of electricity, and there are references to the complexity of understanding electrical systems, including the behavior of motors and circuit breakers under different conditions.
This discussion may be useful for individuals interested in understanding basic electrical principles, particularly those related to circuit design, current flow, and the operation of circuit breakers in household wiring.
Do you understand the difference between series and parallel loads?Edweird said:If ohm's law is: current = volts/resistance, then why does a circuit breaker trip when you plug in too many appliances. It seems like every time you hook a load up to a circuit you are increasing the resistance of the circuit, and so current should be reduced cooling the circuit down, not overheating it.
When you add another appliance to your house wiring, it is connected in parallel, not series. This has the effect of allowing more current to flow, and the resistance is reduced not increased.Edweird said:If ohm's law is: current = volts/resistance, then why does a circuit breaker trip when you plug in too many appliances. It seems like every time you hook a load up to a circuit you are increasing the resistance of the circuit, and so current should be reduced cooling the circuit down, not overheating it.
Yes, I was trying to get him to figure that out for himself.tech99 said:When you add another appliance to your house wiring, it is connected in parallel, not series. This has the effect of allowing more current to flow, and the resistance is reduced not increased.
Yes, I was kind of thinking that was the case. So does that mean if the circuit were in series electron flow would just stop rather than tripping the breaker?phinds said:Do you understand the difference between series and parallel loads?
Why do you think it would stop instead of just decreasing? Tech99 specifically TOLD you it would just decrease. Do you have some reason to think he's wrong?Edweird said:Yes, I was kind of thinking that was the case. So does that mean if the circuit were in series electron flow would just stop rather than tripping the breaker?
Sorry, our replies clashed in time and I did not see your reply.phinds said:Yes, I was trying to get him to figure that out for himself.
I guess I should have said slow down, then eventually stop if load continued to increase. Although, then why does a breaker trip when you're using a saw and the blade gets stuck? It's not like you are adding another parallel circuit!phinds said:Why do you think it would stop instead of just decreasing? Tech99 specifically TOLD you it would just decrease. Do you have some reason to think he's wrong?
Sure, understood. Still, it's always better to try to get a poster to think rather than just spoon feed them answers.tech99 said:Sorry, our replies clashed in time and I did not see your reply.
So why does a breaker trip when a saw blade gets stuck?Windadct said:Hello EdWierd - Welcome to PF...I'll take a guess and assume you are relatively new to electricity.
So... a Circuit breaker is rated at 20 A ( amps) - that is how we measure current.
If you plug in one appliance that needs 12 A - no problem, right?
But if you then plug in another appliance needing 12A - when we talk about current in a household circuit, these two currents ADD together - and the Circuit Breaker has 24A flowing through it... and it trips.
These appliances are being fed in parallel - so the 24 A in the breaker 1/2 goes to Appliance 1 and the other half goes to Appliance 2.
I hope that helps clear this up a little... this can be drawn in a circuit concept to show the parallel paths of current as was mentioned above, but I wanted to simplify the situation as best I could.
Because the motor is trying to draw more current than the breaker allows. A motor is not a passive resistance, it is an active impedance. There is a big different.Edweird said:So why does a breaker trip when a saw blade gets stuck?
Hm. I don't follow your logic on that. If you ask a question that implies lack of knowledge of the basics, why is it wrong to infer that you lack knowledge of the basics? I'm not trying to give you a hard time here, I'm trying to get you to think about what you said.Edweird said:don't judge what I know by the questions I ask.
Maybe I don't want to pay for scholarly articles, nor drive a half hour to a library. Anyways, thanks for the help.phinds said:Hm. I don't follow your logic on that. If you ask a question that implies lack of knowledge of the basics, why is it wrong to infer that you lack knowledge of the basics? I'm not trying to give you a hard time here, I'm trying to get you to think about what you said.
Well, certainly if those were your only options, I would understand but I'm sure there are good free tutorials online for basic electronics. Probably easy to find one with a simple search.Edweird said:Maybe I don't want to pay for scholarly articles, nor drive a half hour to a library. Anyways, thanks for the help.
You are on the Internet. There are loads of free resources. Wikipedia would be a fine place to start, or you could Google for introductory texts or courses. Internet forums are not a very good place to go for a detailed course in a subject . That isn't a very efficient use of your time or ours. And you aren't anywhere close to ready for scholarly articles.Edweird said:Maybe I don't want to pay for scholarly articles, nor drive a half hour to a library. Anyways, thanks for the help.
it was actually an incredibly simple question, not detailed course I was asking for. I guess what you're trying to say is you don't have time to answer questions about basic material. however, the fact that you have time to start drama over the interweb tells me otherwise.russ_watters said:You are on the Internet. There are loads of free resources. Wikipedia would be a fine place to start, or you could Google for introductory texts or courses. Internet forums are not a very good place to go for a detailed course in a subject . That isn't a very efficient use of your time or ours. And you aren't anywhere close to ready for scholarly articles.
I must be at a physics board if within my first hour I got people questioning my intelligence lol. You guys are funny, there's more to life than who is the biggest poindexter or thinking you know everything which you don't.Edweird said:it was actually an incredibly simple question, not detailed course I was asking for. I guess what you're trying to say is you don't have time to answer questions about basic material. however, the fact that you have time to start drama over the interweb tells me otherwise.