Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Thoughts on Volts and H2O was Compensation

["Gary R. Boucher" <protek@shreve.net>]

Our power system is grounded on one side.  The other side is the "hot" 
wire.  That is in 120-volts.  With 240-volts there are two hot wires and a 
ground.  Each of these wires in a 240-volt system can be used to ground (or 
neutral) to get 120 volts again.  There are multiple places that the 
neutral wire in a 120-volt system is physically connected to the earth 
ground.  It is connected at the pole, at the meter base, sometimes at the 
breaker box and possibly other places too.

GB

At 07:01 PM 8/15/00 , you wrote:
>At 21:56 -0700 8/13/00, Gary R. Boucher wrote: >David,
> >     To answer your question, 120-volts as you would find it in a wall
> >outlet is actually a single "hot" wire that carries a voltage in reference
> >to the neutral wire.  The neutral is, or is "supposed" to be at ground
> >potential.  <snip>
> >     In theory, if you drove a metal rod into the ground and put a light
> >bulb between the hot wire of the 120 line and the ground rod it will
> >light.  <more snip>
>
>But that's only because the electric company is wired up that way, right? 
>I mean, back where that hot wire comes from the other wire is jammed into 
>the ground, right?
>
>--
>David
>Osage MN USA
>buchner@wcta.net - http://customer.wcta.net/buchner