Chris;
you'll find that even Zlan's site beats around the bush concerning series arcs
Cindy,
actually your brighter than the manufacturer's consider the average sparky.
A 'series' arc is simply a heated termination, a 'parrallel' arc is one that goes to ground, the contention of the manufacturer's is that all series arc's are not dangerous, and progress to ground eventually.
There is some good discussion
Here Basically an arc-fault is a glorified GFPE. Never has the NEC been so buffalo'd......
