Simple Q...obviously a fitting name.
Don't say I didn't warn you about showing your ignorance of electronics.
To start with you are mixing some truth with some falsehoods.
When you have a short the ONLY possibility is that you have LOWERED resistance. This is because you have now put a lower resistance path in parallel with the original load.
The reason it heats up is that being the "path of least resistance" all the current wants to flow through it rather than the proper path of higher resistance.
You create a situation where only part of the wire is conducting all of the current and it heats up much in the same way as the filament in a light bulb or the element in an oven.
A short will do one of two things: trip the breaker or spark and melt the strand of wire.
Unless there are HIGHLY flammable materials around this micro-spark it is not going to cause a fire.
When you have an open circuit that is a different situation. It creates a "spark gap" that causes heat as a spark of current jumps between the two near touching conductors.
It is not "higher resistance" at all. It is a SPARK GAP.
You are correct, that in this situation it will not trip a breaker and can cause a fire.
Higher resistance is what happens when you have too much current draw on wire or connector. This is common when light duty extension cords are used for heavy current items.
In this case, so long as the current draw is lower than that of the circuit breaker, the wire will heat and degrade the insulation causing a fire hazard.
A circuit breaker doesn't sense resistance, it senses amperage/current draw. In the case where you are plugging too many devices into one circuit it exceeds the amperage rating and trips the breaker. In a case where you have a short it creates a path of low/no resistance which in turn conducts too much current and trips the breaker.
Now for a more complex situation.
A power cord that has been crushed and the insulation is worn though causing an INTERMITTENT shorting.
In this case the wires are shorting and sparking.
If for some improbably reason it doesn't trip your breaker then you would obviously smell it.
Electrical fires often take place in VERY old components or buildings where heat or spark ignites dust. This is a situation where the electrical components are being used beyond their useful life.
UL listing can't help.
The other category of common electrical fires are USER ERROR where a person exceeds the maximum rating of a cord or connector or is using a damaged cord or connector.
UL listings can't help you here either.
As for pride in selling to Asian customers...
That is different from pride in my products. It is the pride of re-claiming what was lost.
At this time in history the US owes a significant percentage of our national debt to Asian countries.
There is NO DOUBT that this is going to end badly for our children and our children's children.
Signs of recession and financial imbalance are all around us and only getting worse.
If you can't understand my pride in selling US made products to the countries to whom we owe the most debt as a nation then your understanding of "balance of trade" and "international finance" are as limited as your knowledge of electronics.
Don't say I didn't warn you about showing your ignorance of electronics.
To start with you are mixing some truth with some falsehoods.
When you have a short the ONLY possibility is that you have LOWERED resistance. This is because you have now put a lower resistance path in parallel with the original load.
The reason it heats up is that being the "path of least resistance" all the current wants to flow through it rather than the proper path of higher resistance.
You create a situation where only part of the wire is conducting all of the current and it heats up much in the same way as the filament in a light bulb or the element in an oven.
A short will do one of two things: trip the breaker or spark and melt the strand of wire.
Unless there are HIGHLY flammable materials around this micro-spark it is not going to cause a fire.
When you have an open circuit that is a different situation. It creates a "spark gap" that causes heat as a spark of current jumps between the two near touching conductors.
It is not "higher resistance" at all. It is a SPARK GAP.
You are correct, that in this situation it will not trip a breaker and can cause a fire.
Higher resistance is what happens when you have too much current draw on wire or connector. This is common when light duty extension cords are used for heavy current items.
In this case, so long as the current draw is lower than that of the circuit breaker, the wire will heat and degrade the insulation causing a fire hazard.
A circuit breaker doesn't sense resistance, it senses amperage/current draw. In the case where you are plugging too many devices into one circuit it exceeds the amperage rating and trips the breaker. In a case where you have a short it creates a path of low/no resistance which in turn conducts too much current and trips the breaker.
Now for a more complex situation.
A power cord that has been crushed and the insulation is worn though causing an INTERMITTENT shorting.
In this case the wires are shorting and sparking.
If for some improbably reason it doesn't trip your breaker then you would obviously smell it.
Electrical fires often take place in VERY old components or buildings where heat or spark ignites dust. This is a situation where the electrical components are being used beyond their useful life.
UL listing can't help.
The other category of common electrical fires are USER ERROR where a person exceeds the maximum rating of a cord or connector or is using a damaged cord or connector.
UL listings can't help you here either.
As for pride in selling to Asian customers...
That is different from pride in my products. It is the pride of re-claiming what was lost.
At this time in history the US owes a significant percentage of our national debt to Asian countries.
There is NO DOUBT that this is going to end badly for our children and our children's children.
Signs of recession and financial imbalance are all around us and only getting worse.
If you can't understand my pride in selling US made products to the countries to whom we owe the most debt as a nation then your understanding of "balance of trade" and "international finance" are as limited as your knowledge of electronics.