Circuit Breakers are electrical components designed to protect us against the risks of electric shock and our homes against fire and other types of damage that can be caused by electrical faults. Each circuit breaker in your electrical switchboard usually protects one or more related circuits against overload, short circuit and earth leakage.

In order to understand what causes a circuit breaker to burst (or more commonly known as trip), we first need to understand what a circuit is and what the terms overload, short circuit and earth leakage mean.

What Are Circuits?

The electrical installations in our homes are divided into electrically separated segments known as circuits. Each circuit provides electricity to equipment in a very well defined and specific group. All the light fittings and light switches are found on one circuit known as the lighting circuit. Air-conditioners, heating and ventilation equipment are grouped on another circuit known as the HVAC circuit. And last but not least, socket outlets are grouped on a circuit known as the power circuit.

Each circuit is made up of cables, switches, connections and other electrical equipment designed to carry only the maximum electrical current specified by the manufacturer. When exposed to current exceeding this maximum, the electrical component may break down, melt or catch on fire. Circuit breakers were introduced to ensure this does not happen by disconnecting the electricity supply when the electrical current that flows exceeds the maximum capacity that the circuit components can handle.

Overloaded Circuits – The Main Reason a Circuit Breaker Trips

Have a look around your house at all the socket outlets. How many appliances are plugged into each socket outlet? Chances are you’ve got more than the circuit is designed for. Our increasing use of electrical and electronic devices puts more pressure on our electrical installations every day – sometimes to the point where the amount of electricity we use exceeds the amount that the circuit can safely give us without overheating or getting damaged. When this occurs, the circuit breaker in your switchboard will disconnect the circuit from the electrical supply.

Short Circuits – When Things Go Really Wrong

Whether you’re digging in the garden for the great new flower box, or drilling a hole in the wall to put up that lovely family picture, each time you make changes to the house you run the risk of damaging electrical cables concealed behind walls or in the soil. When you drill a hole through a cable or cut it with a spade, direct contact occurs between the individual wires in the cable. This is known as a short circuit. Electrical cables aren’t designed to withstand the current flowing in such a short circuit situation. In cases such as this, the short-circuit protection mechanism in the circuit breaker disconnects the electricity supply to ensure that the cable does not melt or catch fire.

Earth Leakage Currents

Sometimes known as ground fault current or residual current, this is electricity that flows from the electrical installation to the ground or other conductive materials of the house. Electrical systems are designed to pass current between the live conductors of the installation. When appliances like kettles, refrigerators and washing machines become faulty, they can allow current to flow through their metal parts into your body and down to the ground. This is a dangerous situation known as an earth leakage. Certain types of circuit breakers known as Residual Current Devices or Ground Fault Current Interrupters trip when they detect this current flowing to the ground to protect you from electric shock.

In summary, there are only 3 very simple reasons why circuit breakers trip:

1.) A circuit is overloaded, i.e. there are more devices connected to it than the circuit can actually accommodate.

2.) A short-circuit is present. Although less likely than an overload, a cable or other part of the fixed wiring may be damaged. You’ll need a qualified electrician to repair this fault and make your home safe again.

3.) An appliance is causing an earth leakage current to flow. Of all the scenarios, this is by far the most likely cause. Appliances become faulty all the time, and the result is a circuit breaker that keeps tripping.

What should you do if your circuit breaker keeps tripping?

Contact your local electrician to help you find out what the cause is. If you’re from Perth, Western Australia, contact a Perth electrician or one of the Perth electrical contractors.

Electricity has become an absolutely essential part of modern life. It is used to power the largest industries down to the smallest household convenience. In your home, electricity is used to power appliances, furnaces, light fixtures, and many other items. Have you ever wondered how exactly your home’s electrical system works?

Components

Your home’s electrical system is comprised of many different parts, including incoming power lines or conduit, an electric meter, service panels and subpanels, household wiring, electrical outlets, switches, and the appliances that use this power. These items can be separated into two distinct categories: rough-in components and finish components. Rough-in components are the electrical elements in your home that are installed during the beginning phases of construction, such as wires, cables, and electrical boxes. On the other hand, finish components are the elements that are added to your home’s structure towards the end of construction, such as outlets, switches, and light fixtures.

How it Works

Electricity is sent to your house from the utility company through overhead power lines and/or underground conduits. This power is delivered most commonly through three main lines, called three-wire service. This is the type of energy delivery system that most households have. There are two “hot” wires, which each deliver 120-volts of electricity, and one neutral wire. Most household lights and appliances use 120-volts, only requiring the use of one hot wire. However, larger appliances and electrical devices, such as air conditioners, electric ovens, furnaces, etc. require both hot wires, using 240-volts of electricity. All electrical circuits require the presence of the neutral line.

An electric meter is located at the point where the electricity arrives at the house. This device tracks the amount of energy delivered and consumed by the household. From here, the power is channeled to the main service panel, commonly referred to as a “breaker box”. The main panel is the central distribution point for the entire building’s power supply. To understand how this works, one must understand how an electrical circuit works.

In order for electricity to flow, it must be provided with a stable, continuous closed path from beginning to end, with contact never being broken. Like a circle, the power will travel from the power source to the device, and then return back to the power source.

This is why the main service panel is commonly called the “circuit breaker box”. It provides a way of purposely breaking the circuit, in order to perform service or repair, or to guard against safety hazards. From the main panel, electricity is diverted to individual circuits which provide power to separate areas and aspects of the home. Sometimes, power is sent to sub-panels in other areas of the home and then on to the electrical circuits which run throughout the house. These circuits provide power to the many power outlets, or receptacles, and light fixtures in your home, allowing you to operate all your household electronic appliances and lights.

From the study of Physical Chemistry (which includes Quantum Mechanics) we know that the structure of matter and the periodic table that results is a consequence of the only the electromagnetic force and nothing else, unless gravity is very strong-so strong that it dominates other forces. Such conditions do not exist on Earth.

Of course gravity pulls atoms down to Earth, but it does not affect the electronic structure…However the question does not ask about the pull of gravity on particles, but rather about the orbits of electrons around an atom, and if gravity plays a role.

Let us consider one H atom. The mass of a proton is 1.67262158 × 10-27 kilograms and the electron rest mass is 1800 times lighter 9.10938188 × 10-31 kilograms. The Coulomb attractive force between these two charged particles is many orders of magnitude larger than gravity between them.

More specifically we can compare the gravitational attraction between an electron and a proton, to that of their electrostatic attraction. Using Newton’s Law and Coulomb’s law and plugging in the fundamental electron charge, and for gravity, the above masses, and known constants, shows that the Coulomb force is a whopping 1040 times stronger than gravity in the Hydrogen atom.

That is 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0… (40 zeros) times stronger!!!

Electronic Structure of Matter

Understanding of Physical Chemistry also explains that electronic structure of matter is governed solely by Coulomb’s law: the attraction and repulsion between charged particles: But read on.

We only know of four forces: gravity (range: infinite), electromagnetic (range infinite), weak nuclear force (leads to beta decay) (range only within a nucleus); the strong nuclear force (range only within a nucleus). That’s it folks.

The nuclear forces are much stronger than the electromagnetic force over the same distance. The energy released in nuclear reactors is many orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy because E=mc2.

Gravity and Black Holes

Having said all that, I want to think a bit more about the question outside the box. What is a neutron star? a black hole? A neutron star has a mass so great that it overcomes the electromagnetic force and pushes the electrons down onto the nucleus.

Proton+ + Electron- ->Neutron

I have put a plus charge on the proton and a minus charge on the electron to emphasize that they repel each other. So to push an electron out of its orbit and down to the surface of the proton must overcome the electrostatic repulsion between them.

The gravitational field needed to do this is more than 1040 times stronger than on Earth!! That star is basically made up of neutrons. Recall that Ernest Rutherford found that an atom has a very dense nucleus. Imagine the gravitational field of a star made up of nuclei rather than atoms! Under such strong gravitational fields, the electronic structure does depend upon gravity.

Same for black holes. Gravity is so strong that nothing can escape it, and it appears to dominate all other forces.

Finally, physicists seek a unified theory to describe the mechanics of all forces. Of the four forces, three have been unified (using quantum mechanics (quantum field theory really)). Only gravity is not understood.

Whether we like it or not, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets became one of the needed perks in our life, statistically speaking almost all of the people in the world owned one or two mobile phones. iPhones and other high-end electronics also are increasingly becoming popular each day and many gadget fanatics are going crazy about them.

Pretty as they seem, these gadgets did not come cheap, the units are costly and its accessories and enhancements are often expensive too. There are also unavoidable headache and expensive repair cost to be considered if your unit got damaged due to deliberate or unavoidable circumstances such as phones being sunk in the water, sweat and humidity wetting the insides of the phone, or dust and dirt corroding the chips and eventually making the software fail.

Though brand new gadgets came with manufacturer’s warranty for a certain period; these warranties can be void if water, humidity or any other liquids and dirt get inside your phone, but sometimes our phones accidentally gets wet or dirty inside without us knowing it. Unfortunately sometimes the culprit of these iPhone Problems is not you; because most phones have headset slots not covered, humidity and sweat can easily go through it. For example, if you have sweaty palms holding or using your iPhone too much could make the sweat travel inside it through the open slots in the side. Several smart phones especially iPhone and iPad come with a sensor that detects liquid contact by turning red. When this sensor turns red your beloved gadget will eventually malfunction due to short circuits.

The open headset socket at the top or at the side of your gadget also invites dirt and dust causing some of the hardware to fail or short, and as much as you want to avoid it you did not buy a phone to keep it confined in the box forever.

It’s a good thing that nowadays several companies supply headphone jacks and support plugs that can be inserted to your smart phones to protect it from environment pollutants that could possibly damage your most valued gadget. Through these protecting devices common gadget enemies such as dirt, dust and water can be prevented from pestering your beloved electronics.

These headset plugs can be inserted into your iPhone’s headset jack to provide covers from fluff, sands, water, mist, and dust. They are also made to complement most mobile phone covers and come with different designs to suit your mood, style and preferences.

Some of these plugs can even be personalized by putting your company, brand or organization’s logo enabling you to create another path to promote, advertise or market your products and services.