If the third prong of a plug of a shop vac broke off, can you still use the vac as is, or is there another way to use it without replacing the plug.
Electrical – Broken three prong plug
electrical
Related Solutions
If you're talking about an E26 lampholder (the medium screw-in base widely used in the US), there are only two electrical contacts: live is at the back of the lampholder and neutral is the screw thread. While the light fixture itself should be grounded, it's not available via an adapter.
In an outdoor situation, ground protection is even more important than indoors; if your exterior circuit also includes exterior receptacles, it should already be covered by a GFCI. As I said in an another answer, that breaks the circuit if there's a ground fault, but without a ground connection, any current is going through you to ground, instead of through the ground lead. So no, it's not safe to use a two-prong to three-prong adapter and leave the ground on your lights disconnected.
I have seen exterior light fixtures with a grounded electrical outlet built into them; if you were able to change the light fixture, that would be the safest way to go.
You could replace the cord on the dryer, but you'd have to bond the chassis of the dryer to make that acceptable to current NEC codes (Article 250.140). This can be a safety hazard if done incorrectly, and it may or may not void the warranty on the dryer.
Since your dryer is set up to use a 4 prong receptacle, the optimal solution would be to update the receptacle to a 4 prong (NEMA 14-30R if I remember correctly). However, this will require you to run new cable to the receptacle, since you'll need a cable with a ground. Depending on the draw of the dryer and the length of the run, you'll either have to pull new 10-3 /w ground or 8-3 /w ground cable.
EDIT:
As @TheEvilGreebo pointed out, you may be able to simply swap out the cord on the dryer for a 3 prong version. Check the manufacturers documentation to verify the procedure, and to make sure your model supports this.
EDIT:
This schematic for an electric dryer might help you understand how the dryer could be wired (depending on make/model/manufacture date).
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Best Answer
You can use it. But it is NOT RECOMMENDED.
The vast majority of the time, the ground plug does "nothing". But under certain fault conditions, the ground plug is vital for safety. There are certain types of tools that are "double insulated" and do not have a ground plug. But if a device has a ground plug then it is not advisable to use it without the plug. This includes both a problem with the plug, as you described, and also includes using a "3-prong to 2-prong adapter".
This is especially the case with a shop vacuum. Shop vacuums often handle water, metal and other conductive materials. If something should go wrong and the ground plug is not intact and functioning properly, that could lead to serious injury.
Replacing the plug is usually not hard to do. Depending on the type of cord, you might be able to replace the entire cord, or you may cut off the end and attach a new 3-prong plug. Look for a replacement that is "UL Listed".