Is it dangerous to touch neutral wire?

[Kevin J]

If I touch the neutral wire while the circuit is still connected, will I get the same electrical shock as if I touch the live wire?

 

[f95toli]

In theory or in the real world?
In theory (i.e. a "perfect circuit") the neutral is at ground potential, i.e. you won't get a shock.
In the real world it will be at some potential and could very well you give a nasty shock.
and if someone at some point has connected something the wrong way round (=switched the wires) it could very well be at the same potential as live (which may or may not be possible depending on where you live and how old your house is).

Hence, you should always assume that the neutral will give you the same shock as live.

 

[Dale]

You have two different questions here with two different answers.

If I touch the neutral wire while the circuit is still connected, will I get the same electrical shock as if I touch the live wire?

In this circuit, assuming everything is working properly, you will not get shocked touching the neutral wire.

However, the question in your title: “Is it dangerous to touch neutral wire?” Is a resounding “yes”. It is dangerous to touch a neutral wire. You never know if it was installed correctly or if there is some fault or failure on any component or part of the system. You should not assume that a real neutral is safe to touch.

Edit: @f95toli for the win!

 

[Kevin J]

The thing that I don't understand is how does connecting the wire to the ground makes it 0V, isn't it still connected to the source's voltage?

 

[Nugatory]

That's two questions.
Will you get "the same" shock? Generally not, the voltages are nearly always different.
Is it dangerous? Yes. There's a reason why residential wiring systems use separate conductors for neutral and for ground (which you can touch).

 

[Nugatory]

The thing that I don't understand is how does connecting the wire to the ground makes it 0V, isn't it still connected to the source's voltage?

It doesn't make it 0V, it makes the voltage difference between it and ground fairly small (zero if the wire had no resistance, but of course it has a bit).

The transformer at the left in your picture is a device that maintains the hot wire at a voltage higher than the neutral by a fixed (RMS, if this is alternating current) amount. Neither of these voltages has any relationship to the Earth unless and until you run that extra wire to ground.

 

[Vanadium 50]

In general, if you have to ask the question "Is it dangerous?", the answer is "yes", or at least that it can be. If you don't have enough understanding to know for sure and to know what actions need to be taken to reduce the risk (which could include such acronyms as PPE, ALARA and LOTO), it's best avoided.

 

[Elquery]

I know this is old, and the OP is probably long gone, but for others finding this thread...

here's my crack at it:

If you have a closed circuit with current running through it, then you have a load being powered. A resistor. Let's say a light-bulb. If you didn't have a resistor (like the light-bulb) you would have a short circuit and the breaker would trip.

Voltage drops ACROSS a resistor, and it will drop its entire voltage by the time it returns to source (Kirchhoffs law). So with one resistor, all voltage is dropped across that resistor. Meaning if you were powering one light-bulb, you would lose all 120 volts (U.S. system estimate) across the light. That means the white wire coming out of the bulb is theoretically at ground potential.

This 0 voltage potential does not mean there is no current. Current is conserved throughout the circuit, and so is identical to the hot side.

If you touch the hot... you're touching 120volts of potential and you are now a resistor in the circuit parallel with the light-bulb. BAD news.
If you touch the neutral, you are a resistor in parallel ONLY with the neutral wire itself, which has extremely low resistance compared to your body. So technically some current will flow on you, but if you do the math based on resistors in parallel and the low resistance of the wire, it is nearing zero.

Importantly: what happens if the neutral wire you are holding (which was providing the low resistance path back to source) looses a connection and becomes incomplete? (one example might be old wiring that has been bent a bunch of times and is just ready to break... you touch it and it breaks). Now you have become a resistor in SERIES with the light-bulb and the primary path for current to take back to source. Since you are in series, now the voltage drops takes place over both resistors in the circuit (you and the light-bulb) with the largest drop occurring at the higher resistance (you).

Another way to think of the last scenario is to consider that the neutral is only the neutral (or better yet, is only at ground potential) when it is intact all the way back to source. As soon as it is open, it is effectively the hot if there is some load connected upstream. Additionally this all assumes correct wiring, which is best not to assume.