A surge protector is more than just an apparatus for turning one outlet into six – it plays an important role in electronic device maintenance, such as protecting your laptop. how a surge protector works, we need to define an electrical surge. Think of the flow of electricity as the flow of water running through a pipe. Water moves from one end of a pipe to the other end due to water pressure – water moves from high pressure to low pressure. Electricity operates in a similar way, moving from areas of high electric potential energy to areas of low electric potential energy. In this case, it’s from one end of a wire to the other end. Voltage is a measure of this electric potential energy – more specifically, the difference in electric potential energy. When the voltage increases above the norm for at least 3 nanoseconds, it’s called a surge. If the surge is high enough, it can cause wear and tear on your electronic devices, or in severe cases even destroy them.
Let’s go back to the water pipe example. If the water pressure within the pipe is too great, the pipe will burst. The same thing is true for electrical wiring. If the voltage of the wire is too great – meaning the difference in electric potential energy from one end to the other is too high – then the electricity will surge through. This heats up the wire, and if hot enough it can burn, rendering it useless http://www.fourquadrant.com/.
