why is there no neutral needed in 208v lighting?

Question

today we pulled a feed to outside lights and only used two hots and a ground.

Answer 1

Alternating current flows two directions. For 1/120th of a second, the electrons flow one way, and then they turn around and flow the other way. While one of the lines has the electrons flowing one direction, in the other line the electrons are flowing the opposite direction. When the two lines are paired up, the current flows in opposition and completes the cycle.

Answer 2

208v lighting?
what type of lights?
parking lot lights?
those typically use a mutli-tap ballast and as such you can tap for
120v
208v
240v
277v
480v
in which case only 120v and 277 use a neutral
all other use 2 hots
208 is a product of step down voltage from a 3 phase Y system, 3 phase 480 volts stepped down to 120 / 208 volts 9 as in a 120 / 208 volt system you only get 208v on 2 legs and not 240 due to the phase being 120 degree apart and the 3 phase is reduced by a 3 phase factor ( square root of 3 = 1.73 for phase to phase voltage divide 208 / 1.73 to get 120 volts )
the neutral is not needed in 208 voltage since the 2 phases come in one after each other and is thus efficient with no load imbalance ( or neutral need to carry back to the panel ), this is why commercial ACs are usually 3 phase or at the least single phase 208v

Answer 3

you need 2 poles for electron flow. both hots are all is needed to complete the circuit for electron flow. in a 120 VAC system you have one hot and one neutral this complets the circuit

Answer 4

208 volts is used in industry fed from a 3 phase delta transformer which dosnt' use neutral. All loads are fed across the three phases.