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Give a brief note about the applications of heating effect of electric current. |
The important applications of the heating effect of electric current are given below : 1.The heating effect of current is utilised in the working of electrical heating appliances such as electric iron, electric kettle,electric toaster,electric oven,room heaters ,water heaters (geysers) ,etc .All these heating appliances contain coils of high resistance wire made of nichrome alloy.When these appliances are connected to power supply by insulated copper wires then a large amount of heat is produced in the heating coils(because they have high resistance),but a negligible heat is produced in the connecting wires of copper(because copper has very,very low resistance. 2.The heating effect of electric current is utilised in electric bulbs(electric lamps) for producing light.When electric current passes through a very thin,high resistance tungsten filament of an electric bulb,the filament becomes white-hot and emits light. Tungsten metal is used for making the filaments of electric bulbs because it has a very high melting point (of 3380 degree celsius.Due to its very high melting point,the tungsten can be kept white hot without melting away. 3.The heating effect of electric current is utilised in electric fuse for protecting house hold wiring and electric appliances.A fuse is a short length of a thin tin plated copper wire having low melting point.The thin fuse wire has a higher resistance than the crest of the electric wiring in a house.So,when the current in a house hold electric circuit rises too much due to some reason,then the fuse wire gets heated too much ,melts and breaks the circuit.This prevents the fire in house and also prevents damage to various electrical appliances in the house due to excessive current flowing through them. Thus , an electric fuse is a very important application of the heating effect of current. |