Have you ever noticed how the burner on an electric stove is put in place? It has two prongs (on the older models at least–we don’t have a new stove yet). And you lock them in place to make the burner work. Clearly it is connecting to the positive and negative voltage. Yet you can touch the burner (or at least the metal pot in direct contact with it), and you don’t get an electric shock. Why?
(P.S. I also submit this question to Cecil. But mainly I will look for answers on this board:).)
The electrical element is insulated from the bits you can touch - the metal spiral is just a curly case and has no connection to live or neutral. The cooker chassis should be earthed/grounded for safety.
yep. most I’ve seen are “Calrod,” the actual wire the current passes through is inside the “shell” which is the burner surface, and there’s a layer of ceramic insulation between them.
edit: here’s one type
Experiment time. Take the heating element off the stove, turn the knob on for that burner, and touch the contacts where the heating element connects.
Be sure to let us know what happens.
Not that you should go probing this either, but a toaster (especially an older one) may well have an exposed element if you’re looking for a shock.
Also, just touching a live electrical wire does not necessarily mean you’ll get a shock. There needs to be a path through you that’s sufficient for enough current to flow, or the potential difference needs to be big enough (for a static-type shock). So even if your stove had an exposed element, you might not feel it. Please do not go testing this, however. It’s better if you treat it as dangerous as it really is.
Yes, get your least-favourite child to try it and report the results.
I’m surprised a Moderator hasn’t jumped on you for that.
We all knew it was in jest… err… I hope it was in jest… unless it’s one of those really obnoxious kids…
It’s not a good idea to suggest an action in jest that will kill a person unless you know everybody reading it understands the risk.
Note that the elements have to be well insulated. Else, when you put a metal pot on them, there would be a short thru the pan. The current would go from one end of the element, to where it first touches the pan, thru the pan and then out the other end of the element. This would not be good.
adding a little more description; the part you place the pan on has no electricity to any part you can touch.
inside the dark metal coiled heating element on an electric stove there is an electrical resistance wire that connects the electrical contacts and gets hot when electricity flows through it. that is similar to the filament of a light bulb or the heating wire in a toaster only here the resistance wire is much larger. this resistance wire is totally surrounded by an electrically insulating material that conducts heat well (it is not thermally insulating), this is then surrounded by a durable metal tube that gets hot and you set your pans on. no electricity to the outside, only heat (if things aren’t broken).
electricity in appliances is not to be played with or experimented with. you should not try things out of curiosity or guess when making repairs. electricity in appliances is a deadly hazard either immediately or in the future if misused or malfunctioning. make repairs and trouble shoot only when you know what you are doing.