Is it safe to force a three prong plug into a two prong outlet?

Question

So I'm in a college dorm, and my roommate took a three prong TV plug, and bent the ground prong so that it fits into a two prong extension cord. Is this unsafe, as in, am I going to wake up engulfed in an electric fire? Thanks

Answer 1

Holy c**p! NOOOOOOOO! My dad is an assistant fire chief and i asked him and he flipped on me cuz he thought i did it. Yes you can wake up engulfed in flames. There is a reason they put the ground prong on there: to ground the wires so you dont get electrocuted. You better fix that pronto its super dangerous!

Answer 2

As an electrical engineer, I don't recommend doing that, but in all honesty, you're not that likely to wake up to an electrical fire.  Ostensibly, it's to protect the user from possible electric shock when touching a metal chassis of the equipment, but even then you probably won't have that much worry.

Normal household current (assuming you're in the U.S.) is 110v AC.  Normally, that's a range of 0v to 110v.  But in some cases, it could be 5v to 115v, or 10v to 120v.  In rare cases, it could be 50v to 160v.  The neutral wire, instead of sitting at 0v, can actually be as high as 50v, but for the equipment, it doesn't matter since the end result is still a 110v difference.

What DOES matter is when the electrical case is metal, since the neutral wire is connected to the case.  You COULD end up suffering an electric shock if you touch the metal case.  But, again, it only matters if you're barefoot and touching earth ground.  If you're wearing shoes, or standing on a hardwood floor, even then you won't feel any shock, or maybe just an electric tremor that will startle you.

The third (ground) wire is just a means of forcing the neutral wire to ground, or absolute 0v, for added safety, just in case something did go wrong with the household voltage AND you happened to be grounded, where you could experience a terrific shock.  That's why I don't recommend bypassing the 3-wire safety system, but also why I don't worry much about it if you do.  The 3-wire system is fairly new, only being around in the last 25 years.  For decades, homes were wired only for 2-wire electrical service, and hardly anyone ever had a problem with it.

For added illustration, one day I was standing on a wooden ladder working on some 110v wiring in the ceiling.  I'd been grabbing hold of the bare wire with my bare hand with no problem as I cut the insulation for reworking.  It wasn't until I was done and everything was reconnected, I was on the floor and accidently bumped the switch to find that the electrician had never turned off the circuit breaker as he was supposed to.  I had been holding a live wire several times in my hand, but being on the wooden ladder protected me.  Had I grabbed hold of the other wire at the same time, I'd have been electrocuted.  (Which is why I never touch both wires at the same time, even if I KNOW they're been disconnected.)