What is the difference between 120/60 and 120/50 in electrical usage?

Question

I live in the middle east and some countries vary from 50 to 60. I once had a hairdryer that was turned off but plugged up explode in Kuwait.

It was on a converter plug. Im just curious as I travel from time to time.

Answer 1

the first number is the voltage and the second is the hertz or frequency of the alternating current (a/c) ...... some countries use 240 volts which might be why your hair dryer blew up. If you look at the label on most appliances it will have the required input voltage. Some devices can be used on both 120V and 240V and/or 50 or 60 hertz.

the label would read something like                                 [input: 100~240V 50-60 Hz ]  

this means it can operate within that range

some appliances can only be used on certain voltages and frequencies

Answer 2

There is a little effect in electrical usage of an appliance rated 60 or 50Hz. Watt-hour meters measures current flow with voltage across a line, hence watt-hours in a time of one hour. Your incident in Kuwait may be because of some loose connection in your plug that caused a short circuit.

Answer 3

60 is for sixty  cycle   50 is cycle. cycles per second