Why do chargers Spark when plugged into a power Source?

When you take the power adapter on business often notice that the moment the charger is plugged into the socket, there will often be electric sparks, and you will panic for a time, worried about whether it will damage the socket or adapter. Recently, some new friends asked questions about this phenomenon, and thought that many users often encounter same situations in life, therefore, we arranged the class about this, to introduce this phenomenon and measured whether there will be damage.

Arcing

The phenomenon of electric spark generated when the charger is inserted into the socket is called arc phenomenon. Arc is a form of gas discharge. Gas discharge is divided into self-sustaining discharge and non-self-sustaining discharge. Arc belongs to arc light discharge in gas self-sustaining discharge.

The test proves that when the circuit with voltage exceeding 10V and current exceeding 0.5A is opened or closed in the atmosphere, a mass of gas with extremely high temperature, strong brightness and conductive will be produced in the contact gap (or arc gap), which is called arc. For appliances with contacts, because the arc is mainly generated in the contact on or off circuit, high temperature will burn contacts and insulation, and even cause short circuit between stages, electrical explosion, fire, endangering the safety of personnel and equipment.

Why does it happen?

Secondly, the high temperature produced by the arc will melt and vaporize the surface of the contact and burn out the insulation material. For the plug-in board or charger with a long service life or unqualified production, it is often seen that the connecting port or metal pin has burning traces, and it is easy to cause short circuit and injury accident.

The use of electric arcs in life

It is understood that the arc is a phenomenon of gas discharge, so it has disadvantages or advantages. Because the high temperature produced by the arc can reach more than 3000℃, under certain conditions, the strong and lasting gas discharge phenomenon can be generated between the two electrodes, which can melt and vaporize the metal surface. Therefore, it is more common in daily life in mechanical repair shops, where welding is carried out by generating arc. In addition, it is also used in metallurgical industry, such as DC arc furnace and so on.

Summary

Generally , when the power adapter is inserted into the energized plug board, the contact area is too small, and the voltage and current passing through it will lead to arc, and the user will see little sparks; On the other hand, due to the maturity of the formal and qualified internal manufacturing process of the charger on the market, and a number of over and over voltage protection technology, users do not have to worry too much about accidents.

In addition, because of the high temperature and strong light, the arc can be widely used in welding, melting, chemical synthesis, strong light source ，and space technology. It seems that the phenomena in life can be explained scientifically. Just by observing attentively, you will love the world full of many unknowns.

#chargers # power adapters #voltage #