An electric heater has a power of 1000W. It is connected to mains electricity (230V). The heater is equipped with an Earth wire. a) Calculate the current in the heater. b) Explain the role of the earth wire as a safety feature.

a) Use the equation P=IV where P is power in W, I is Current in Amps and V is voltage in volts. Rearrange to give I=P/V I=1000/230 = 4.34 A b) This is a wire connected to the metal casing of an electrical appliance. If the casing becomes live it provides a low resistance path to earth. The large current in the earth wire causes the fuse to blow causing the current to stop. This prevents electrocution. 

KS

Related Physics GCSE answers

All answers ▸

A boy kicks a ball and it is accelerated uniformly from rest so that after 10 seconds it has achieved a speed of 15m/s. Find the ball's acceleration.


Ann and Bob play on a uniform seesaw. The seesaw is 4m long and Ann and Bob weigh 600N and 800N respectively. If both Ann and Bob start at one end of the seesaw and Bob starts to walk up the seesaw at 2m/s, after how long will the seesaw turn?


What is terminal velocity and what causes it?


A tennis ball is hit over a net with a speed of 45ms^-1 and has a mass of 30g. Calculate the kinetic energy of tennis ball.