5 Common Electrical Terminologies (Terminologies that EIM Students Use)
Electricity is one the greatest gift of science to mankind (Lekshmi, 2010).
We have reached a point of our civilization where in, electricity is being used for all purposes. Electricity travels at 6,696,000 miles per hour and they say, it can relate to the speed of light but much slower. One of the interesting facts about electricity is the spark of static electricity can measure up to three thousand (3,000) volts. When you feel a static shock, you are feeling the generation of 3,000 volts of electricity.
There are many different sources to create electricity. Some better than others for various reasons but all the major ways to make electricity are nuclear fission, nuclear fusion , solar panels, oil, coal, wind turbine, tidal energy, biomass, natural gas, geothermal, hydro-electric, magnetic, and fuel cell ("Electricity Production and Distribution", n.d.). Electricity is most often generated at a power station by electromechanical generators, primarily driven by heat engines fueled by combustion or nuclear fission but also by other means such as the kinetic energy of flowing water and wind.
Electricity is something that people cannot live without in the modern day. Without it, life will become hard. There are a lot of things that electricity can make our lives at ease. First, electricity helps us to communicate and also, it is helps us to be entertain. If electricity does not exist, we cannot entertain and we cannot communicate because our cellphone is low battery or no charge. Also, Electricity is used for printing books and for powering microphones during events. Imagine life without these entertainment appliances and equipment. Let’s face it. Without it, life will become very dull and no game consoles to kill time with.
In EIM, there’s a lot terminologies that the students use. Below of this text are the 5 common terminologies that EIM students use:
GFCI
Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupter. An electrical wiring device that disconnects a circuit whenever it detects that the electric current is not balanced between the energized conductor and the return neutral conductor. Such an imbalance is sometimes caused by current leakage through the body of a person who is grounded and accidentally touching the energized part of the circuit.
Sentence: The electricians recommends using GFCI instead of normal outlet if you wants to have outlet in your restroom.
CIRCUIT
A circuit is a closed loop that electrons can travel in. A source of electricity, such as a battery, provides electrical energy in the circuit. Unless the circuit is complete, that is, making a full circle back to the electrical source, no electrons will move.
Sentence: The current thus sent to line may be made either to act directly on the printing instrument or to close a load circuit by means of a relay.
FUSE
A replaceable safety device for an electrical circuit. A fuse consists of a fine wire or a thin metal strip encased in glass or some fire-resistant material. When an overload occurs in the circuit, the wire or metal strip melts, breaking the circuit.
Sentence: Before we use circuit breaker as our circuit protective device, we use fuse first.
OHM
The standard unit for measuring resistance to flow of an electrical current. Every electrical conductor offers resistance to the flow of current, just as a tube through which water flows offers resistance to the current of water. One ohm is the amount of resistance that limits current flow to one ampere in a circuit with one volt of electrical pressure.
Sentence: The total resistance of your circuit is 30.1 ohms while in my circuit is 28.6 ohms with the difference of 1.5 ohms.
SHORT (OR SHORT CIRCUIT)
This occurs when one part of a circuit comes in contact with another part of the same circuit, diverting the flow of current from its desired path.
A short circuit is simply a low resistance connection between the two conductors supplying electrical power to any circuit. This results in excessive current flow in the power source through the 'short,' and may even cause the power source to be destroyed. If a fuse is in the supply circuit, it will do its job and blow out, opening the circuit and stopping the current flow.
Sentence: You must double check your connection before energizing to ensure that short circuit will not occur.
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