I always thought AC current requires 2 wires to carry the current both ways just like DC. Recently I read a post on this sub saying neutral wires go to ground. What am I missing?
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You are missing fundamentally what current is. Current is not something that goes through a wire into your machine, current is the flow itself.
Imagine a tube of water. You can put a turbine into that tube that will be connected to power a mill or whatever other machine. If the water moves, the machine moves, if it doesn’t then nothing moves. It doesn’t matter in which direction the water moves to move the machine, the power isn’t the water, its the movement of water. You can design your machine to work when the flow of water goes in only one direction (DC) or when it oscillates between both directions (AC).
The wire is your tube, electrons are the water and current is the flow of water. So current doesn’t really go to your machine, it goes through your machine and comes in the “other” wire. It really isn’t another wire though so much as the other side of the same circuit (the water has to go somewhere!).
The third cable is something unrelated to the current being AC or DC. Its more like another tube that is there in case your machine is spilling water that could hurt you if you touch it.
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