- #1
confundido
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I understand that in an electrical outlet, "ground" is wired directly from the outlet to the ground, whereas neutral is wired from all the outlets to the breaker box or wherever in the house, then to the ground, and that neutral is intended to carry current.
That being said, I am confused about the following line in my textbook: "This leads us to the major point of the discussion: inside the house or the laboratory, the neutral wire is NOT AT GROUND POTENTIAL... When the neutral wire is carrying current, it can't be at ground potential." I don't see why that is true. If I were to draw the circuit, there would be one wire at potential between -120V and +120V, a resistor, and another wire carrying the current to ground with potential equal to ground. What am I missing? Is my picture overly idealized?
That being said, I am confused about the following line in my textbook: "This leads us to the major point of the discussion: inside the house or the laboratory, the neutral wire is NOT AT GROUND POTENTIAL... When the neutral wire is carrying current, it can't be at ground potential." I don't see why that is true. If I were to draw the circuit, there would be one wire at potential between -120V and +120V, a resistor, and another wire carrying the current to ground with potential equal to ground. What am I missing? Is my picture overly idealized?