In simple and practical terms, a short circuit is an unwanted or unintentional path that current can take which bypasses the routes you actually want it to take. This is normally a low resistance path between two points of differing potential. For instance: – Schematic created using In the left simple LED circuit, just over 6 mA is flowing round the circuit.

Create a short circuit, represented by a very low resistance (no wire is a perfect 0 Ω conductor) and 5000 A wants to try to flow through it. That's bad news for the battery. Counter Strike Source Skin Pack Weapons Silver on this page. The battery could well explode.

192 ©2005 Cooper Bussmann Short Circuit Current Calculations Introduction Several sections of the National Electrical Code® relate to proper overcurrent pro. Introduction to Short Circuit Analysis. The electrical opposite of a short circuit is an open circuit, which is infinite resistance between two nodes.

What is certain, though, the internal resistance of the battery will limit the current that can exist and a large voltage drop will be seen at the terminals of the battery causing the whole circuit to stop functioning. This is a: Okay, that's what I really wanted to put down. Let's see if we can answer your question with the rest of the space. A short circuit is a connection between two elements which you did not intend to connect. In most cases, this behavior is highly unexpected and has a tendency to cause your circuit to behave improperly.

One of the most common short circuits is a wire which connects two points that are being driven to a fixed potential between them (such as the two prongs of a 120V wall socket, which are being driven by the generator at the power company to remain 120V AC apart). In these cases, the result is usually spectacular, and involves secondary effects. For example, if you put a wire across a 120V wall socket, you will find out very quickly that that wire did not have a 0ohm resistance, like an ideal wire, but rather had a very small resistance (0.001ohm or similar), and is now permitting a huge amount of current to flow through it. At least until it heats up and melts!