Shower is the name given to a device for terminating a water network, filled with small holes through which the water flows, allowing people to get wet. It is an equipment used for bathing and personal hygiene and essential in any home.
The shower is of a very old origin. Paintings and vases portray its existence in Greece and Egypt and its use in bathrooms. In Brazil it was developed in the 1940s.
The operation of this device is very simple. The shower is composed of two resistors, which is a coiled wire made of metals that allow a quick and convenient heating, one high power and one low power heating, and a diaphragm rubber. The resistors are fixed inside the shower. To select the type of bath you want to take, there is a selector switch on the outside that is capable of change the type of resistance, increasing or decreasing the power of the shower and, consequently, the temperature of the bath.
When water circulates through the shower, it presses on the rubber diaphragm, which in turn brings the resistance contacts closer to the energized contacts located on the head of the device. Thus, the water going through the terminals of the hot resistor heats up, making the bath very warm and pleasant.
Electrical resistance is the ability of a body to resist the passage of electrical energy. Its calculation is based on Ohm's Law and its unit in the SI (International System of Units) is ohm (Ω).
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resistor
Resistors are made of conductive material. These materials, when traversed by an electric current, heat up causing a phenomenon called the joule effect. This effect is due to the millions of electron shocks against the conductor's atoms. As a result of these shocks, the kinetic energy of the system increases. The increase in this energy is manifested through an increase in the conductor's temperature, that is, an increase in the resistance temperature.
By Marco Aurélio da Silva
Brazil School Team
Electricity - Physics - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SANTOS, Marco Aurélio da Silva. "Operation of the electric shower"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/fisica/funcionamento-chuveiro-eletrico.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.
