On Tuesday, March 7, 2017 at 7:27:13 PM UTC-6, wrote:
On Tue, 07 Mar 2017 16:29:46 -0500, micky
wrote:

Why do laptop power supplies, the ones with black rectangular things in
the middle of the cord, have 3-prong plugs when everything you can touch
is plastic or "rubber"?

And, I believe, when there's nothing more dangerous than a lamp
underneath the plastic and the rubber? Less dangerous because some
light bulbs ger really hot!
If the power supply were to short power could get through the
laptop, and out the USB or headphone, or whatever jacks.?
Anyway, some require grounding by code, others don'r.

Many manufacturers put an IEC socket on the laptop power supplies because the power supplies will operate on multiple voltages. It's simple to change the cord that's shipped with the laptop depending on the area of the world it's sold in. It's the same with desktop computers. If the computer is shipped to a part of the world that uses 220vac 50hz, all you do is use a power cord that has the appropriate plug. t(ツ)_/¯

[8~{} Uncle Power Monster