The Electrical Circuit and How It Can Affect You

The more you know about how electricity works and why it acts the way it does, the better you'll be able to understand what you need to do to be safe around it.

Electricity is a very powerful form of energy that travels in a path called a circuit. Under normal conditions, the circuit takes place inside the wires that carry electricity from the power plant to your home and into your electrical appliances. If nothing happens to interrupt that circuit, everything should be fine. But there are two important things to know about electricity and its circuit.

First, electricity will always try to get to the earth if it can. So if it can find a way to jump out of the circuit we've set up for it, it will.

Second, electricity is lazy. It wants to take the easiest path it can find to get to the earth. Some of the easiest things for electricity to travel through are certain types of metal and water. And guess what? Your body is made up of a lot of water.

So if your body should touch an uninsulated wire carrying an electrical circuit at the same time as you are in contact with the ground (or with something like a ladder or tree that is touching the ground), the electricity will leave the wire and travel to the ground through you. And, as it does so, it will give you a shock that could make you tingle, give you nasty burns (inside and out), or possibly even kill you. There are several ways you can protect yourself from getting electrical shocks or burns.

Shocks and burns aren't the only way electricity can hurt you. Fire is also a danger because electricity creates heat and that heat often reaches temperatures high enough to set fire to paper, fabric and other common household materials that might come into contact with an uninsulated or overheated electrical wire or outlet. There are several precautions you can take to help prevent electrical fires.