When electricity is supplied to an heating element what is it that stops the element being live?
Some heating elements are live, and some are not. Wire heating elements (in some electric kettles) are live, so it is not a good idea to touch them or stick your finger in the water that they are heating! I will describe the other type of heating elements as “tube” type heating elements. This is the type you often find in ovens and in some electric kettles. This type has the live wire running down the centre of a metal tube, however there is an insulator inside the tube between the wire and the outer metal tube. These are safe to touch as long as there is no fault in the element and as long as you don’t mind getting burnt!! The other point to make is that one end of the element is “live” while the other end is “neutral”, or very close to “earth” potential. So, for the wire elements, it depends where you touch it as to whether you will be electrocuted.
