Why insulators prevent electric shock

Insulating materials also keep electricity inside appliance cords. Rubber or plastic insulation around the cords keeps the electricity in the wires and prevents you from getting a shock. If this insulation is broken or wears off, the electricity can come through and shock you.

Also, if you overload an outlet by plugging in too many things, cord insulation can overheat and melt, causing a shock and fire hazard.

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Some examples of conductors are: copper, aluminium, platinum, gold, silver, water, people, animals and trees. Insulators are materials that are opposite to conductors. The electrons are not easily freed and are stable, preventing or blocking the flow of electricity. Some examples of insulators are: glass, porcelain, plastic and rubber. Your body is a conductor! Electricity will always take the shortest and easiest path to the ground. Because our bodies are made up mostly of water, we are good conductors of electricity.

To this day, pin-type insulators still have threaded pinholes. The invention of suspension-type insulators made high-voltage power transmission possible. Pin-type insulators were unsatisfactory over about 60, volts.

A large variety of telephone, telegraph and power insulators have been made; some people collect them. In most cases a broadcasting radio antenna requires an insulating mounting, therefore insulators of steatite are used. They have to withstand not only the voltage of the mast radiator to ground, which can reach values up to kV at some antennas, but also the weight of the mast construction and dynamic forces.

Arcing horns and lightning arresters are necessary because lightning strikes in the mast are common. At guyed mast radiators, it is often necessary to use insulators in the guy if they are not grounded via a coil at the anchor bases , in order to prevent undesired electrical resonances of the guys. These insulators also have to be equipped with overvoltage protection equipment. For the dimensions of the guy insulation, static charges on guys have to be considered, at high masts these can be much higher than the voltage caused by the transmitter requiring guys divided by insulators in multiple sections on the highest masts.

In this case, guys which are grounded at the anchor basements via a coil - or if possible, directly - are the better choice. The most important insulation material is air.

A wide variety of solid, liquid, and gaseous insulators are also used in electrical apparatus. In smaller transformers, generators, and electric motors, insulation on the wire coils consists of up to four thin layers of polymer varnish film. Film insulated magnet wire permits a manufacturer to obtain the maximum number of turns within the available space. Windings that use thicker conductors are often wrapped with supplemental fiberglass insulating tape. Windings may also be impregnated with insulating varnishes to prevent electrical corona and reduce magnetically induced wire vibration.

Large power transformer windings are still mostly insulated with paper, wood, varnish, and mineral oil ; although these materials have been used for more than years, they still provide a good balance of economy and adequate performance.

Busbars and circuit breakers in switchgear may be insulated with glass-reinforced plastic insulation, treated to have low flame spread and to prevent tracking of current across the material.

In older apparatus made up to the early s, boards made of compressed asbestos may be found; while this is an adequate insulator at power frequencies, handling or repairs to asbestos material will release dangerous fibers into the air and must be carried out with caution. Live-front switchboards up to the early part of the 20th century were made of slate or marble. Some high voltage equipment is designed to operate within a high pressure insulating gas such as sulfur hexafluoride.

Insulation materials that perform well at power and low frequencies may be unsatisfactory at radio frequency , due to heating from excessive dielectric dissipation.

Electrical wires may be insulated with polyethylene , crosslinked polyethylene, PVC , rubber-like polymers, oil impregnated paper, Teflon , silicone, or modified ethylene tetrafluoroethylene ETFE.