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Definitions WHILE EXTREME CARE HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS SELF-HELP DOCUMENT, THE AUTHOR AND/OR PROVIDERS OF THIS DOCUMENT ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS, NOR IS ANY LIABILITY ASSUMED FROM THE USE OF THE INFORMATION, CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT, BY THE AUTHOR and / OR PROVIDER.
Be certain to also read the article 'ELECTRICITY,
WHAT IS IT?' where some electrical terms are explained in
a very different way. Definitions In the articles on this website... In layman's terms we usually refer to electrical wiring as having a hot wire, a neutral wire, and a ground. Ungrounded conductor in layman's terms is the hot conductor. Ungrounded in that is does not cross earth ground until passing through an item using electrical power such as a light fixture, appliance and so on, so that wire is ungrounded as such and the most dangerous to work with if the circuit is live, as anything touching it could be used as a passage way to the return path including yourself. I will get more into the dangers of working with electricity in the electrical safety and electrical dangers articles on this website. Also electricians who want to be highly technical, or technically correct in the language may refer to ungrounded conductor (hot) in the switch portion of the circuit as the ungrounded conductor leg (hot), or switched ungrounded conductor (hot). Grounded conductor in layman's terms is the neutral. By true technical definition a neutral serves two ungrounded conductors. The layman term ground is technically an equipment grounding conductor an extra measure of safety built into modern wiring. Bellow is a more detailed definitions list originally written by my long time partner (Warren Goodrich) in making previous self help websites, unfortunately he is now deceased, but I do not think I could write it any other way, his knowledge and expertise would be hard to come by after all he served as an electrical and building inspector for many years as well as a renowned teacher on this subject. Definitions and Symbols
AMPS
= 746 watts times horse power and then divided by volts. CM = Circular mill which is the cross sectional area of a conductor. D = Distance which is the amount of length from the power source and in some calculations plus the amount of length for the return path combined. E = Volts. EMF = electromotive force or [voltage]. ETC. = “and so on , and so on”. Ground = A loose terminology that could be referring to either grounding or grounded. Grounded = neutral conductors which are normally current carrying conductors. Grounding = Bonding ground conductors or earth ground conductors. GFCI = “Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter”. A device that in generic terms monitors the hot conductor, the grounded conductor, and the grounding conductor. The device monitors the electrical circuit that it is to protect for a leakage between these lines with a limit of a maximum leakage of 5 milliamps, or .005 of one amp. In generic terms the GFCI was discovered, and utilized in our wiring method to protect accidental loss of life, due to shock hazards. The GFCI has been very successful by all available statistics at saving many lives since it’s conception and use began. When “us”old folks? were kids, and if a radio dropped in our bathtub while we were in it, we most likely were dead! Now with the GFCI protection device we might have a half a chance at survival. A GFCI is so sensitive that a leakage of .005 of one amp between the grounded conductor and hot conductor, or between the hot conductor and the grounding conductor, or even between the grounded conductor {white} and the grounding conductor {green} is designed to kick out the device, and de-energize the circuit that GFCI is to protect. Horsepower = a measurement of mechanical power that a motor produces. In electrical, one horse power equals 746 watts. In mechanical terms one horse power is produced when 33,000 pounds are lifted one foot in one minute. Horse power represents the work being done by the output of an electric or internal combustion style motor. Hot = A current carrying conductor with voltage present. I = Load in amperes which is the resistance multiplied by the voltage. Input = What you pay for Input = In another term input can be a Primary of a transformer K = Short for kilo in Greek meaning/one thousand. Remember this term for electrical terminology. Example kilowatt / KVA / “K”= a terminology of conductor resistance which is the resistance of a conductor multiplied by the circular mill and then divided by one thousand, normally found in a voltage drop calculation. Kilowatt = Units of watts in calculation of one thousand. M = Roman numeral for one thousand. Not normally found in electrical terminology. Megawatt = units of watts in calculation of one million. Neutral = The return path of a circuit carrying only the unbalanced load of two ungrounded conductors. A neutral may not be broken by a switch or other type of device. A neutral will be referred to as a grounded conductor. Ohms = A measurement of resistance. The resistance through which one volt will force one ampere. Output = Work performed In another term output can be a Primary of a transformer Parallel Circuit = Where the current divides, and therefore has more than one path to flow, their total resistance is the sum of individual currents. The voltage across each of the loads are the same. The total resistance is less than any individual resistor. In a parallel circuit, you can remove one resistance [light bulb etc.] without affecting the work performance of any of the other resistance [light bulb etc.] on that parallel circuit.
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Donald Kerr / Wiring Done Right
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