- #1
timmeister37
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- TL;DR Summary
- This is looking at why one needs a line 2 on an AC circuit from a different angle. Why cannot the entire bicycle chain be on line 1?
Preface to thread: I am darn well aware of the fact that on an AC circuit, there has to be a line 2 after the load to bring current back to the power source. This thread is about WHY does there have to be a line 2 after the load to bring current back to the power source. I hope that I don't get a bunch of people acting like they are teaching me something new and tell me "There has to be a line 2 to bring current back to the power source." Darn it. I said that in the preface of the OP!
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Back in March of this year, I created a thread titled "Why do you need a line 2 on an alternating current circuit. PF member anorlunda gave me the excellent answer that one has to have a line 2 on an alternating current circuit because of the following: "Current does not leave the power source on line 1 unless the same amount of current returns to the power source instanteously.
On that post #17 of that thread back in March, PF member phinds gave me the following excellent analogy: "Think of current as a bicycle chain. It either all moves or none of it moves."
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The reason for the creation of this thread is that I want to know why you cannot have the line 2 on the exact same wire as line 1. Below this sentence is Diagram 2:
The switch on diagram 2 is closed. The green wire on Diagram 2 is just ONE WIRE. The green wire on Diagram 2 only has one prong that plugs into an electrical outlet not two. The orange line on Diagram 2 is NOT A WIRE. The orange line on Diagram 2 is the current. The green wire on Diagram 2 is not one cord with two internal wires. The green wire on Diagram 2 is JUST ONE WIRE.
Anorlunda told me that in a circuit, current has to both leave the power source and enter the power source simultaneously. Phinds told me that current travels in a circuit like a bicycle chain, either it all moves or none of it moves. My diagram 2 follows both what anorlunda told me and what phinds told me about circuits. Why cannot the current flow in a circle (like a bicycle chain) both to the power source and away from the power source and to the load ON THE SAME WIRE as I depicted in diagram 2?
A standard electrical wire is a three-dimensional object, not two dimensional. I don't see why there is not room for current to flow in different directions on the same wire.
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P.S. when i first created this diagram 2, the line that represented the current was red. Now, for some unknown reason the line changed from red to orange. Therefore, I edited this to say orange instead of red.
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Back in March of this year, I created a thread titled "Why do you need a line 2 on an alternating current circuit. PF member anorlunda gave me the excellent answer that one has to have a line 2 on an alternating current circuit because of the following: "Current does not leave the power source on line 1 unless the same amount of current returns to the power source instanteously.
On that post #17 of that thread back in March, PF member phinds gave me the following excellent analogy: "Think of current as a bicycle chain. It either all moves or none of it moves."
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The reason for the creation of this thread is that I want to know why you cannot have the line 2 on the exact same wire as line 1. Below this sentence is Diagram 2:
The switch on diagram 2 is closed. The green wire on Diagram 2 is just ONE WIRE. The green wire on Diagram 2 only has one prong that plugs into an electrical outlet not two. The orange line on Diagram 2 is NOT A WIRE. The orange line on Diagram 2 is the current. The green wire on Diagram 2 is not one cord with two internal wires. The green wire on Diagram 2 is JUST ONE WIRE.
Anorlunda told me that in a circuit, current has to both leave the power source and enter the power source simultaneously. Phinds told me that current travels in a circuit like a bicycle chain, either it all moves or none of it moves. My diagram 2 follows both what anorlunda told me and what phinds told me about circuits. Why cannot the current flow in a circle (like a bicycle chain) both to the power source and away from the power source and to the load ON THE SAME WIRE as I depicted in diagram 2?
A standard electrical wire is a three-dimensional object, not two dimensional. I don't see why there is not room for current to flow in different directions on the same wire.
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P.S. when i first created this diagram 2, the line that represented the current was red. Now, for some unknown reason the line changed from red to orange. Therefore, I edited this to say orange instead of red.
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