Electrical Engineering & Safety

Household and power electricity in practice: wire a staircase two-way switch circuit, size fuses and breakers, see how RCDs protect against shock, estimate appliance energy use and bills, and follow power through transformers and AC circuits.

8 interactive Design & Technology simulations on electrical engineering & safety.

Electrical safety – shock current, earthing and RCD breakers Design & Technology · Electrical Engineering & Safety Four common household electrical accidents: touching a bare live wire, holding a metal-cased appliance with a... Ages 13–14
Household electrical appliances – energy consumption and tiered electricity bills Design & Technology · Electrical Engineering & Safety The house has nine familiar electrical appliances with realistic power ratings: a 9 W LED bulb, a 60 W fan, a 100 W... Ages 11–12
Staircase lighting circuit – schematic and installation diagrams Design & Technology · Electrical Engineering & Safety A staircase lighting circuit uses two two-way switches to control one lamp from two locations, with an optional... Ages 14–15
Household electrical circuit – fuse, switch, socket and overload Design & Technology · Electrical Engineering & Safety A diagram of a 220 V household circuit: supply → protective device (fuse or circuit breaker) → parallel branches of... Ages 13–14
AC circuits – phase difference and power factor (cos φ) Design & Technology · Electrical Engineering & Safety An AC source u = U√2·sin(ωt) supplies a purely resistive load, an R–L load (motor, ballast), an R–C load, or a... Ages 17–18
Saving electricity – LED lamps, air conditioning and tiered billing Design & Technology · Electrical Engineering & Safety A house has a bank of lights and an air conditioner: choose incandescent, compact fluorescent or LED lamps for the... Ages 17–18
Power transmission – transformers and losses ΔP = P²R/U² Design & Technology · Electrical Engineering & Safety Electricity travels from the power plant through a step-up transformer, a high-voltage line and a step-down... Ages 17–18
Home electrical panel – main breaker, branch circuits and shock protection Design & Technology · Electrical Engineering & Safety The home's electrical panel has a main circuit breaker, a residual-current circuit breaker (RCCB, 30 mA) and branch... Ages 17–18