what is fuse

An electric fuse is a safety device used to limit the current in an electric circuit. The use of a fuse is to safeguard the electric circuit and the electric appliances connected in the electric circuit from being damaged. A fuse is a short piece of wire made up of a material of high resistivity and of low melting point, So that it may easily melt due to overheating due to the excessive flow of electric current. The thickness of the fuse wire is different in different fuses depending on the amount of current which is permitted to flow through them. Generally an alloy of tin and lead is used as the material of the fuse wire as it has high resistivity and low melting point. Usually the fuse wire is a thin wire to be the resistance of the fuse wire is much more than that of the live wire.