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A short circuit is an abnormal connection between two nodes of an electric circuit intended to be at different voltages. This results in an electric current limited only by the Thévenin equivalent resistance of the rest of the network which can cause circuit damage, overheating, fire or explosion.
For example, a short circuit is a fault in which a live wire touches a neutral or ground wire. An open-circuit fault occurs if a circuit is interrupted by a failure of a current-carrying wire (phase or neutral) or a blown fuse or circuit breaker.
A resistor removed from a high voltage tube circuit shows damage from voltaic arcing on the resistive metal oxide layer. Resistors can fail open or short, alongside their value changing under environmental conditions and outside performance limits. Examples of resistor failures include: Manufacturing defects causing intermittent problems.
When a circuit must be protected from overvoltage and there are failure modes in the power supply that can produce such overvoltages, the circuit may be protected by a device commonly called a crowbar circuit. When this device detects an overvoltage it causes a short circuit between the power supply and its return.
A transient fault is a loss of power typically caused by a fault on a power line, e.g. a short circuit or flashover. Power is automatically restored once the fault is cleared. A brownout is a drop in voltage in an electrical power supply. The term brownout comes from the dimming experienced by incandescent lighting when the voltage sags.
In this example, the port that is not injecting current is left open circuit. This is because a current generator applying zero current is an open circuit. If, on the other hand, one wished to apply voltages and measure the resulting current, then the port to which the voltage is not applied would be made short circuit.
An inrush current limiter is a device or devices combination used to limit inrush current. Passive resistive components such as resistors (with power dissipation drawback), or negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors are simple options while the positive one (PTC) is used to limit max current afterward as the circuit has been operating (with cool-down time drawback on both).
Inductance — The phenomenon whereby the property of a circuit by which energy is stored in the form of an electromagnetic field. Induction heating — Heat produced in a conductor when eddy currents pass through it. Joule heating — Heat produced in a conductor when charges move through it, such as in resistors and wires.