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A comment on Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V?. Parent comment

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by jefftk on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:27PM (#37311867)
Why? A burned-out bulb fails closed not open.

If it failed open then a bulb burning out would trip the circuit breaker.

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Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by sokoloff on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @03:11PM (#37312428)
> Why? A burned-out bulb fails closed not open.

In electrical circuit terminology, "open" means "not connected" while "closed" means "connected/shorted".

That's different from direct translation of Chinese (and I think several European languages) where "open the light" means to turn it on (by closing the circuit, naturally).

I think it's most common English engineering usage (by far) to say that a burned out lamp fails open [circuit].

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Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by jefftk on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @03:28PM (#37312670)
Whoops, sorry, I had them reversed!
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Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by sokoloff on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @03:58PM (#37313078)
Interesting/random side note: modern mini Christmas light bulbs do burn out (mostly) closed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MOpfT0f7bQ&t=179s
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Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by unethical_ban on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @03:12PM (#37312449)
To close a circuit is to connect it, correct? So when the filament burns out, the circuit breaks, which is an open circuit, correct?
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