What is traveling across the neutral wire in your typical household wiring if the load is using the electrons?

Question

I understand basic electricity in that electrons are flowing to energize whatever is on the line, say a light bulb, but in order for it to work you need to complete the circuit, why? What is traveling from the light bulb back to the source over the neutral wire?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

The electrons don’t disappear, they move from a high energy place to a low energy place, like water at the top of a hydroelectric dam vs water at the exit. The water at the top has more energy, and extracting that energy doesn’t make the water disappear.