Here's a quicky...

Ask the architect, electrical engineer or Harry the home owner.

everywhere.

Sounds like you and your friend need to be more careful. Stuff falling everywhere is more a hazard than the ground pin issue ;-) Surely your friend knew that measuring taps 'collapse' frequently and don't always 'go' where you want them to.

But obviously, 'stepping on plugs' causing them to pull from the wall is just not being very careful. Nor is dangling metal tape over the top of some power plugs. Probably for every account that people can relate an incident for GPU, an equal number can relay an incident where GPD saved them instead.

If safety were a big issue with this, we might require recessed, locking plugs that can't be removed without turning off the power via an integral switch. (oops, don't want to give anyone ideas ;-)

Or the master electrician in charge of that job subscribes to the same 'wives tale' because "that's the way I learnt it!!"

I simply think it [the idea that orientation saves us from falling wall plates] is a poor attempt to rationalize an old myth. Like so many other 'urban myths'. If there was *really* something to it, by now, it would be in a standard or code *somewhere*. Anyone ever run across a lawsuit based on this issue?? If not, considering our litigious society, it must truly

*not matter*.

daestrom

---------- Agreed I remember a revered old prof stating "you can make something foolproof but can't make it damfoolproof".

-- Don Kelly snipped-for-privacy@peeshaw.ca remove the urine to answer

I have seen a number of industrial electircal specs that call out this orientation. And take a look at outlets. The lettering molded into the plastic is right side up if the ground pin is up.

Where I work, we try to make things idiot proof, but we have found that we have ingenious idiots. :-)

Very interesting! I've never seen a polarized wall wart - but I did find a wall wart with a ground prong in a catalog today. That one had screw terminals for the output.

I'm sure I've never seen a "wall wart" ever. Could someone please explain what a wall wart is for someone outside the US of A??

..thinking some kind of mechatronic growth from rising damp.. with pins and terminals. ;-)

Cameron:-)

They are talking about a "plug in the wall" transformer like you would find on a modem or something. The transformer is the plug.

Uh-huh.. A plug-pack. Thanks. :-)

Cameron:-)

Around here (southern California) residential seems to be GPD, except for switched outlets which are GPU

I think you need to look again.

I looked at most of the receptacles that were mounted on display at Home Depot. Every one of them had the molded lettering on the front of the receptacle right side up with the ground prong DOWN.

If speaking of the US standards wherein the ground plug is "U" shaped, the correct orientation is with the ends of the "U" up.

This is so that the electrons don't leak out all over the floor as they try to make their way to ground.

Where the fu__ did you get this one from????????????????

Yeah sound like nonsense to me....

I thought it was obviously a joke ;-)

daestrom

Thank you. At least ONE person has a sense of humor!

Are there other EE forums or newsgroups online... especially ones for Engineers specializing in both...

1 - Electronics Circuit Design using both discrete and integrated components 2 - Antenna and RF Radiation theory and design? 3 - The physics of Electronics

thanks for any info.

tmb

Are you familiar with the sci.electronics series of newsgroups? Try sci.electronics.misc and sci.electronics.design for starters.

Like most Usenet newsgroups today this series of groups tends to attract a lot of noise, but from time to time some interesting threads do appear on antenna fields, circuit design, etc.

You may also want to check out sci.physics, although the noise level there is even worse than it is on sci.electronics since every crackpot who ever has read science fiction appears compelled to post their theories there.

For more serious discussions relating to physics connected topics, check out sci.physics.research, a moderated newsgroup. Its focus is primarily on cutting edge physics theories and research, relativity, mathematical physics and related topics.

Harry C.