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 energy isn’t really returned to ground through the neutral wire. It didn’t come from there in the first place. Ground does provide a difference in potential that allows current to flow through your devices, but all of the energy that flows is converted to something. Motion, heat, light, etc. That’s why a light bulb consumes less than an AC unit- it just doesn’t need as much. If you turn everything off, the difference in potential is still there, but nothing flows, because nothing is being consumed or converted to other types of energy.
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