When wiring an electrical plug which terminal silver or brass does the white conductor attach?

Answer 1

Silver. See step 10 at the following link for safety purposes. See related links below. There is a saying to help remember:

Black to brass to save your A##. Simple answer is white goes to silver, black to brass and of course green to the green screw.

Answer 2

Functionally, nothing. However, best practice suggests that black is always wired to brass, and white to silver. This relates to the polarity of the outlet and device being plugged in - this is why one prong on the plug is wider than the other, causing the plug to only insert one way, and not the other. This, in turn, generally relates to how the device is switched - typically, the hot wire (black) is switched as the neutral (white) wire passes through. This helps to ensure that there is no live current beyond the switch, thus offering a moderate additional level of protection against electric shock.

Answer:

First, for the novice reader, the "white wire" used in US Electrical Codes is the neutral wire (carries no voltage), and the "black wire" is the hot wire.

On US wall outlets (even though your question originally reads "plug" [male connector], you probably meant "outlet" [female connector] -- people say "wall plug" all the time!), the screws for the main two terminals are colored silver and brass. The silver screw is for the neutral wire (white), and the brass screw is for the hot wire (black, red, or blue). The ground terminal always has a green screw for the ground wire (bare or green).

One mnemonic device to remember the proper wiring "polarity" is the phrase "white metal gets white wire" (silver = white metal, as opposed to brass).

As to details why wiring "backwards" can be so dangerous, modern two-prong (non-grounding) appliance cords are "polarized" (one prong wider than the other) to match the correct holes in modern wall outlets. On correctly-wired table lamps and electronic appliances, the hot-wire side of the power cord is connected to the power switch (and the fuse, if used), thus removing any voltage from other parts or circuits of the unit when turned off. A properly wired table lamp, when switched off , will not be a shock hazard to probing young fingers -- even when the bulb is unscrewed from the socket.

Answer 3

silver