I have a very basic understanding of how electricity flows, so apologies in advanced if this is a dumb question. As far as I understand, electricity comes into my house and goes to my devices, and then is returned through the neutral wire to my panel, where it goes to ground.
Why can’t that energy returning from my devices through neutral be used to continue providing power instead of just going to ground?
What I think is the answer (please correct me if I’m wrong): in order for the current to even flow, the circuit needs a path to ground
In: Physics
The way electricity works means that you only take as much power as you are currently using from the main line in the street.
Yes, the voltage goes from 120v (or 220/230/240v depending where you live) to zero but that’s only the voltage. If you’re comparing this to water, the voltage is like the starting height but you can’t just use part of it because all your appliances need the full height to work properly.
The other part is the current which is like the amount of water you are using. You can have a water pipe from the top of the hill to the bottom but that only tells you how much pressure you get at the bottom. The current is how much water you’re actually letting out the tap at the bottom. If you’re only running a phone charger then your tap is only open a tiny bit so you don’t use much power
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