Again I'm a little late on this one.
Why have an active and a neutral? The neutral is bonded to earth. The AC
flows forward and backward at 50/60 Hz. So for the first 10 milliseconds the
voltage rises to 240 volts (actually 339, but let's not go there) above
earth, then in the next 10 milliseconds it goes 240 volts below earth. It
doesn't matter what direction it is - above or below earth - it still hurts.
Foxy
----- Original Message -----
This has just reminded me of a question that's been bugging me since
school physics class. If we run alternating current on the power
supply, with the current reversing 50 or 60 times a second, why bother
labelling live and neutral and having to remember which way round to
stick the wires in the plug. You get it wrong and 1/50th of a second
later you got it right. What's the difference between live and neutral?
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