I understand the concept of DC, but if electrons are just kind of moving back and forth in one place to produce an electric charge for AC, why do they say it’s necessary to have a path back to ground/ 0V if it’s not “moving” towards ground/ 0V?
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AC doesn’t need a neutral. If you’re using neutral and negative interchangeably, then yes it needs a neutral path.
Technically, electricity doesn’t move by electrons but by electromagnetic waves. They’re just really linked together. It’s a common misconception that they move by electrons. Just think about transformers (two coils separated by a gap), there is a gap there but AC can travel across that gap.
You need a complete path for the electricity to travel.
AC doesn’t need a neutral. If you’re using neutral and negative interchangeably, then yes it needs a neutral path.
Technically, electricity doesn’t move by electrons but by electromagnetic waves. They’re just really linked together. It’s a common misconception that they move by electrons. Just think about transformers (two coils separated by a gap), there is a gap there but AC can travel across that gap.
You need a complete path for the electricity to travel.
You don’t need a path towards ground necessarily, you just need the two ends to be at different voltages. It’s just easier to alternate the voltage on one end and keep the other end constant than to alternate both ends.
You don’t need a path towards ground necessarily, you just need the two ends to be at different voltages. It’s just easier to alternate the voltage on one end and keep the other end constant than to alternate both ends.
>I understand the concept of DC, but if electrons are just kind of moving back and forth in one place to produce an electric charge for AC, why do they say it’s necessary to have a path back to ground/ 0V if it’s not “moving” towards ground/ 0V?
Because if *everything* moves, nothing moves. Also, it **is** moving towards ground. But only for a very short time, followed by moving away from it instead.
>I understand the concept of DC, but if electrons are just kind of moving back and forth in one place to produce an electric charge for AC, why do they say it’s necessary to have a path back to ground/ 0V if it’s not “moving” towards ground/ 0V?
Because if *everything* moves, nothing moves. Also, it **is** moving towards ground. But only for a very short time, followed by moving away from it instead.
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