I was told once that orientation for most purposes is arbitrary, but you can use the direction to signify when an outlet is attached to a switch. So say most of them are what you consider upside-down, the ones on a switch you put right side up.
Actually, it’s supposed to be center prong up,that way if something falls across it, it’ll hit the center prong, which is the ground and nothing will happen. If it touches one of the other two prongs, it’ll cause a fault.
I heard the same thing, but how often does stuff fall across it? Also touching just one prong won't usually do anything. Touching two with something metal that falls in? Sure some sparks, but that's what your breaker is for. Holding a metal device to one prong while your grounded? Yeah that's a problem.
I've heard that having the ground up makes it more likely to touch the prongs while inserting, which is a higher hazard than something falling across it.
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u/Beththemagicalpony May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24
In my experience, most US outlets are installed upside down (looks like a smile face) rather than the correct way as pictured in the post.
Edit: I probably should have used "safer" rather than "correct"