Question

The heating element of electric appliances is made of ______.

Answer 1

1. Most heating elements use Nichrome ($80\%$ nickel, $20\%$chromium) wire, ribbon, or strip.
2. Nichrome is an ideal material because it has relatively high resistance and forms an adherent layer of chromium oxide when it is heated for the first time.
3. Material beneath this layer will not oxidize, preventing the wire from breaking or burning out.
4. The melting point of nichrome is high (about ${1400}^{o}C$). So a coil made with nichrome will not melt very easily.

Hence, nichrome is used as a heating element.