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Electricity

Mains Electricity - The Three Wires - Do Not Touch.

The UK mains electricity supply has three wires.
They are called Live, Neutral and Earth
and each wire has its own colour.
Live is Brown, Neutral is Blue, Earth is Green and Yellow stripes.

The Live wire is connected directly to the generators
of the electricity supply company.
NEVER touch this wire, it can kill you!!

The Neutral wire returns the electricity to the generator
after it has passed through the appliance, to complete the circuit.
NEVER touch this wire!!
In a complete circuit, it carries the same electricity as the Live wire.

The Earth wire usually carries no electricity,
it is there as a safety device.
If something in the appliance goes wrong, or it is wired incorrectly,
then the Earth wire carries the same electricity as the Live wire.
To be completely safe, NEVER touch this wire either!!

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