🚀 go-pugleaf

[ Uh oh, here we go again!  It's my turn, guys, I saw it first! ]

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER.

This idea seems to make it around sci.electronics at least once a year
or so.

                       +------------------------+
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | NEUTRAL IS NOT GROUND! | <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
                       +------------------------+

> Article <1948@umriscc.isc.umr.edu> From: robf@mcs213k.cs.umr.edu (Rob Fugina)

>In article <kJhTxoE@quack.sac.ca.us> mrapple@quack.sac.ca.us (Nick Sayer) writes:
>>Now ground and neutral clearly are not the same thing. I would
>>expect negative side effects were I foolish enough to hook
>>a light bulb between hot and ground.

[It will work, but you don't want to run it this way]

>Ground and neutral are exactly the same thing.  If you were to trace the
>wires back to your breaker box, you would find bare wires (ground) and white
>wires (neutral) both connected to a grounding strip.

Neutral exists as a return path for the current.  It is an active part
of the current flow.  Ground, on the other hand, is there for safety.
You should never (NEVER) use ground as a designated return path for the
current.  Ground exists (for among many other reasons) so that if a
device's insulation fails, there is a safe path for current to return
so that the fuse or circuit breaker can trip.  You wouldn't want that
return path to be you...

>MY QUESTION is, if you don't have 3-wire connections in your house, why
>can't you connect the white wire to the ground lug and conuit/boxes, etc???

Have you ever disconnected a piece of conduit that was acting as neutral,
or even touched one while standing on a wet concrete floor?  It's unpleasant,
to say the least, and it surprises the hell out of you!

-j
-- 
J. Deters
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