Question

Why is the switch for any electrical appliance always fitted on to the live wire?
a). No current flows in the neutral wire
b)There will be a short circuit is the switch is in Earth's lead
c)The device cannot be switched off if it is in neutral lead
d)The device can only be isolated if the switch is in the live lead

Answer 1

Hint: A switch in an electrical circuit is connected such that in off position there is no potential difference across the appliance in the circuit. A live wire basically means that it has some current associated across its point whereas a neutral wire represents no current. When these two make contact with each other across an electrical appliance, the current basically flows in the circuit and the appliance starts working. From this above data, we will obtain the correct alternative from those provided.

Complete step-by-step solution:
The switch must be placed in the live wire so that the appliance is always at zero potential difference. But let us say we place the switch next to the neutral wire. Then in such case the body there might be some current flow through the body even if the switch is closed due to a small potential difference as well. Hence a switch for any electrical appliance is always fitted on to the live wire so the device cannot be switched off if it is in the neutral lead.
Additional information:
The switch is always necessary for any electrical circuit as it decides whether current will flow across the circuit or not. If there are no switches across the electrical path the current will continuously flow and there is no alternative to switch the appliance off rather than switching off the mains of the home.

Note: Actually we can connect the switch across the neutral as well as the live wire. But if the body is directly connected to the live wire if it has a small potential difference then there will be a flow of current. Therefore even if the switch is in off position it will have no meaning.