I am a little confused about just how it works with regard to current flow. As far as I know, current flows from the negative pole to the positive, because electrons are attracted to the positive source.
Looking at power lines, I know the voltage is "stepped down" from high voltage carrier lines, to substations, and stepped down again before it gets to a house. Every pole has a ground wire run into the earth, which is the negative. My question is, then isn't the truth that, since the ground is the negative end, that the electricity should be flowing in the opposite direction, and that the voltage is actually "stepped up"?
Also, the truth is that if you touch one wire and not the ground, you don't get zapped. If the current is coming from the ground, and not trying to get to the ground, why can we safely touch the bare ground wire on poles?
2007-11-15
06:06:40
·
5 answers
·
asked by
messenger_of_the_void
2
in
Science & Mathematics
➔ Physics
Ok, I knew the alternating current bit, just didn't understand that the direction of current actually oscillates...cool...
So in a DC situation like a car, with the negative battery being "ground" to the chassis (this is essentially where I got the ground-negative notion), is it more like I thought and the electrons just go from the chassis toward the positive end of the circuits, or is this a discrete concept that I'm missing?
2007-11-15
06:35:18 ·
update #1