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
It’s already lost it’s potential energy.
Let’s just assume is 120V DC power (it’s not)
It comes in at 120V, meaning each electron has 120 eV (electron volts) of energy. That’s 1.92×10^-14 J
It flows through the device, giving us thay potential energy, meaning it now is at 0V (ground it always 0V) and each electron has 0 eV of potential energy (0 J)
How do you do work with no energy?
It reality, we have 120V AC (in the US), so the generators are basically pushing and pulling the electricity back and force, and the electrons on the other side (between you and ground) are basically just a loose end. Without those, it’s like the generator is trying to pull a rope attached to a wall, but with ground, there’s just more rope to pull on
Latest Answers