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
There’s two parts to electricity – voltage and current. Voltage is the energy carried by each electron, and current is the number of electrons moving.
The “loop” of electricity is some number of amps – some number of electrons. They move between the high voltage to the low voltage, delivering that energy as they go.
To harness energy from the current that leaves your home, you’d need voltage. It has none. The electrons are spent. They need to pass through something that refills their energy – raises their voltage – before they are again useful.
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