Title, really. I recently had to reverse the polarity of a badly installed receptacle. I read that the current will work either way but I could shock myself on the light bulb socket, for instance, if the receptacle has its hot and neutral reversed. But why any of this matters when the current is constantly changing direction anyway? Why is the neutral “safe” ?
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The neutral side is bonded to ground. This provides safety. Devices are made so that the neutral is connected to ground. If a part fails and shorts, the current flow will go to ground, blowing a fuse or breaker. If there was no ground and the device became energized, then the person touching it would complete the circuit. Think of it the way, would you want to get into a pool that was ungrounded, with a pump hooked up to an ungrounded power source. The pump could fail and energize the entire pool. The failure could just be the insulation failing causing the frame to be energized. Since there is no bonding or grounding (no neutral), the breaker may not trip. Somebody getting in or out could complete the circuit.
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