Short circuit Tree limbs cause a short circuit during a storm, triggering an electrical arc. A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to " short " or "s/c") is an electrical circuit that allows an electric current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the ... A short circuit is a circuit that helps current to move over a path that has low or zero electrical impedance, which causes high current flow in the circuit . An open circuit is the reverse of a short circuit , which has infinite resistance between two nodes. What is a short circuit and what causes short circuits , their effects on electrical systems, and protection methods to prevent damage Short circuits : Short circuits : The circuit said to be short -circuited means where the component’s resistance is equal to zero. Short circuit will happen due to unintended contact of components and consequent accidental diversion of the current. Short circuit is the challenging things in the electrical power system, to protect the equipment, we use special types of relays we see them later on. Let us see the basic idea about short circuit .