Answer to Question #301702 in Electricity and Magnetism for Chemistry

Question

High-voltage power supplies are sometimes designed intentionally to have rather large internal resistance as a safety precaution. Why is such a power supply with a large internal resistance safer than a supply with the same voltage but lower internal resistance?

Answer 1

Answer

According to physics,A larger internal resistance is usually associated to a poor power supply but in this case it allows us to limit the current if the terminals were to be accidentally short circuited. So that's why a larger series resistance will mean less current when this accident occurs.