AC power plugs and sockets

AC power plugs and sockets are mating electrical connectors that join appliances to alternating-current supplies, often through fixed wall outlets. Their shapes, contact arrangements, and ratings vary by region and application.

Connect

Electrical contact: A conductive interface that allows electric current to pass between two components. Plug blades and socket contacts form the interface carrying current across the connection.
Alternating current: Electric current that periodically reverses direction. The connectors in this concept deliver power from an alternating-current supply.
Harvey Hubbell: An American inventor and entrepreneur who developed early detachable electrical plug and socket designs. His early connector patents helped establish the separable plug-and-outlet arrangement.
Travel adapter: A device that lets a plug with one physical configuration connect to a different socket configuration. It bridges regional shapes but does not necessarily change voltage or frequency.
Type A electrical plug: A two-flat-pin plug standard used in several countries, including the United States and Japan. Its ungrounded two-pin form contrasts with grounded plug designs.
Protective earth: A low-resistance connection to earth that helps prevent exposed conductive parts from remaining dangerously energized. Grounding contacts provide a fault-current path separate from normal current-carrying conductors.
Mains electricity: The general-purpose electrical power supplied to homes and other buildings. Wall outlets connect appliances to this building-scale power distribution system.
NEMA connector: A family of electrical plugs and receptacles standardized by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association in North America. It shows how American safety and voltage practices shaped a regional connector family.
Voltage converter: A device that changes an alternating-current supply from one voltage level to another. It addresses electrical incompatibility that a plug-shape adapter cannot solve.
Type G electrical plug: A three-rectangular-pin plug used in the United Kingdom and several other countries. Its fused plug and shuttered socket differ sharply from many other national systems.