About neutral wire and how it works.Help?

Question

If AC flows from hot to neutal and then from nuetral to hot and back and forth then how can the nuetral be grounded.Current would flow from hot to nuetral but why would it flow back from neutral to hot

Answer 1

Forget that one wire is named 'hot' and the other named 'neutral'. Their names are irrelevant.

Start with a generator, a pair of wires and a load of some sort.

There are two wires from the a.c. generator to whatever it feeds. The current flows first one way then the other ad-infinitum (well, until you switch it off).

Now, connect any point in that circuit to Earth.

The operation isn't changed in any way whatsoever. The current still flows first one way and then the other etc etc.

The fact that the wires have names and that one of them is connected to Earth doesn't change the operation first described above.

Answer 2

Avio's answer is absolutely correct and perfectly fine, so no need to repeat what she said. However, I just wanted to add a slightly different perspective based on the way you asked the question. (Electricity is funny stuff, and it takes some head scratching to get your brain around it sometimes.)

You have to keep in mind that the current switches direction 120 times per second in a 60 hz system. Think of the secondary coil of the transformer between phase and neutral feeding the load. What we have here is a closed loop with the coil supplying the current that feeds the load.

Answer 3

Again, the two "hot legs" are the end taps of the transformer secodary winding, and the "neutral" is the center tap. The neutral is grounded to provide a safe path to ground in case of a short circuit.

For lots of information, including pictures and diagrams, try an internet search on "house wiring" or "electrical distribution."

Answer 4

You must understand the electricity is the flow
of electrons moved by a 'potential`, (force).
The potential must be between two 'Locations'.
On of those 'locations` can be ground.
In this way the voltage to 'ground` at any point
in the circuit is fixed. The maximum voltage to
ground is limited.
Grounded systems are safer to use.