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The other day I flipped a light switch on. Immediately both the bulb burned out and the circuit breaker tripped. Is it possible that the failure of the light bulb (filament burning out) caused the circuit breaker to trip? Or is there a more probable explanation?
Is 120VAC high enough to start an arc?Yes, it's fairly common.
The filament burned out causing an arc to strike between the electrodes. Arcs have a negitive resistance and if left alone will draw an unlimited current but the breaker tripped which cut off the current.
Old light bulbs could explode if the breaker wasn't fast acting enough to trip. New bulbs are fused internally so even if the breaker didn't trip the bulb's internal fuse will blow.
Is 120VAC high enough to start an arc?
... Arcs have a negitive resistance ...
Yes my spelling is crap.
I always get negative and positive mixed up, one is spelt with an i and the other with an a which is quite silly.
While your observation is correct that bulbs are filled, they use an inert gas. I am not a chemistry student though!, I feel, Organ is generally used, if not vacuum.Thanks for that.
Another thing that will help strike the arc is that bulbs are filled with low pressure nitrogen which will have a lower breakdown voltage than normal air.
Don't you mean Argon?While your observation is correct that bulbs are filled, they use an inert gas. I am not a chemistry student though!, I feel, Organ is generally used, if not vacuum.
Is 120VAC high enough to start an arc?
Rather dangerous proposition-- wrench melts off-- these situations we heard while working in telecom, as jokes around 2500AH 2V lead acid cells.throw a wrench across your car battery and tell me if it will arc or not
I saw wrenches melting across high power battery terminals. -- wrench across battery terminals without an fuse or circuit breaker.Also, I doubt the wrench itself actually melts, it's more likely that the battery terminals, which are made of lead, will melt.
I saw wrenches melting across high power battery terminals. -- wrench across battery terminals without an fuse or circuit breaker.