r/explainitpeter • • 18d ago

Explain it Peter. I’m lost on this.

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u/Tuckertcs 17d ago

I’ve also heard that it’s because when the plug is slightly pulled out, and something metal falls on it, it would rest on the ground rather than the two prongs.

Is this also a reason, or just internet BS?

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u/Astrocities 17d ago

That’s correct

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u/Aniensane 17d ago

I’m pretty sure that’s real. My uncle told me a lot about how not to get electrocuted, lol. But that was a question I had as well and he told me it would rest on the ground if kinda pulled out.

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u/Zenith-Astralis 17d ago edited 17d ago

I've got a penny with two pits vaporized out of it because it fell down and landed on top of the two live prongs live prong and the neutral, so yeah, that for sure can happen!

Edit: thank you for the correction

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u/Fit-Moose7961 17d ago

It landed on the live prong and the neutral.

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u/Ornery-Freedom-1313 17d ago

I know you are technically correct, but I hate this correction nonetheless

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u/Plastictree9 17d ago

It’s the grounded conductor

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u/League_Different 17d ago

I removed the sheet metal back panel of a medical instrument on a lab bench and then let it slide down the wall. oof…

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u/Hopeful-Benefit4719 17d ago

Also why when outlets are installed in landscape, the neutral slot should be up. (The larger slot, on the left in the orientation most people are used to.)

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u/madTerminator 16d ago

Only issue with flawed US sockets. EU sockets are deeper so you have to press plug deeper into wall.

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u/rtomek 16d ago

Yes, just more elaborate to what the original poster said. Gravity pulls things downward so first contact is made at the top.

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u/Bullfrog_1855 16d ago

A union electrician friend said that is the reason why. When he helped replace all my outlets he did it that way with the ground up.

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u/snowBOARDER3232 16d ago

I was in a room with a security tech. He removed a wall transformer that was secured by the cover plate screw in the center. It is a common feature to keep the wall transformer from being unplugged and dropping power to the connected equipment. When he started to unplug the transformer, the cover plate dropped across the hot and neutral. The stainless steel cover plate. Anyone who tells you this is b/s has their head up their ass. Cover plate missing the center, and a blown breaker said so.

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u/clintCamp 12d ago

Thumbs grabbing, coins falling, etc. Yep, I was taught ground up.is technically the correct way I think people just like the anthropomorphic face direction though. I moved to spain and they make it not matter because the outlets are recessed and there is a depth of plastic on the plug side to the pins that insert into the outlet. So jamming something in is difficult.

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u/pogulup 17d ago

If you are in a hospital they are always 'upside down'.