attn electricians or physicists: Why is the power line that leaves the house called "neutral" and are . . .

Question

grounding wires ever attached to the "neutral wire"? I have been reading some how to books that are confusing. They depict grounding wires attached to the "neutral wire". If this is the case, then why are they even called grounding wires as they are completing the circuit to the home, not going to the ground which is at zero potential.

My next question would be the following: The wire that carries electricity away from the house does take it back to the powlines that run along poles, correct? It would have to if all the houses are to be connected in paralell right? That is, electricity is not pumped from the hot wires through the neutral wire into the ground, is it?

any resources would be very helpful, even though some of them seem to confuse me more.

I realize this is a complex question. Thanks a lot for your help.

Answer 1

The term Neutral is the naming convention for the return wire in an AC main circuit. It should always be close to ground potential.

You will no see it grounded at the receptacle though it should be grounded at the main distribution panel for a residence or building.

Houses are indeed connected in a parallel manner. A break in the power lines directly to your house will not impact anyone else in your area

The ground wire in a house is provided to conduct electricity in the event of an electrical fault, it is not intended to carry significant current in normal use. Thus the normal electrical path in a residence is from the "Hot" or phase conductor to the neutral conductor.

Answer 2

Hopefully, I can "unconfuse" this situation for you.
The neutral wire (white) is the return path for the hot wire (black). As you know, electricity must have a complete circuit in order to flow - the "live" line and the return, or "neutral" wire.
"Neutral" is somewhat of a misnomer in the sense that it, too, carries the same current as the "live" wire. It is "neutral" simply because it terminates at the same connection and is at the same potential as the ground wire. All of the current when operating correctly is confined to the live and neutral wires. The ground connection is supplied at the devise only as a safety precaution. Should there be a malfunction inside the devise, it is far better to return the current to ground through a ground conductor than to have the person using the device provide the ground path with his/her body.
Ground fault protection devises monitor for current on the live wire and the neutral - any deviation is a good indicator of a short circuit or stray current returning to ground via another path besides neutral - perhaps some poor operator.
As a side note - the "neutral" wire in a circuit is not to be assumed to be safe to touch - if disconnected, it can easily be the return on an appliance or device further up or down the line and have a 120V potential looking for a path to ground - ouch!

Answer 3

The neutral is just the return of the hot wire and the neutral should only connect to the ground at the transformer on the pole. If u connect the neutral to ground any where else u will have return current flowing in your safety ground. Some city codes require to connect the safety ground to the neutral at the power box. I prefer to use a 20 volt mov at this point and it should be able to handle several 100 amps. This will protect your equipment. They want this so that if they loose the ground on the transformer u will not burn every thing up.