A snap action switch gets its name from the manner in which the movable contact transfers to the normally open contact, from its state of rest. In its unactuated state, the moving contact is resting against the Normally Closed (NC) stationary contact. When force is applied to the actuator, the moving contact will separate from the Normally Closed contact and “snap” over to the Normally Open (NO) stationary contact. The period of time that the contact is moving from the NC terminal to the NO terminal is kept very short to reduce the arcing that is caused during this switching action.