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?

Question

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?

In: 19

Answer 1

Any circuit requires two “wires”, whether it’s AC or DC…one to deliver current, one to take it away. In DC, the current is always going the same direction in both wires. In AC the current oscillates back and forth.

The “ground” in an electrical sense is just one big shared wire. The “hot” wire in an AC system is the one that actually goes back to the generator. The neutral wire isn’t hooked directly to the generator, it’s just hooked to ground and all the AC circuits are sharing that same ground (including the generator).