Earthing and neutral are two important connections used in wiring, they are an essential part of wiring used for safety purposes, they prevent electrical equipment from the damage due to fluctuations. Before understanding the difference between earthing and neutral, first, let us understand the terms earthing and neutral. To understand what is earthing and neutral point, we will look at a three-pin electrical socket that we use in our everyday life. The current that is supplied for a household is carried by a three-phase circuit.
That is the reason every socket used for any electrical equipment is preferred to be three-pin. The three pins correspond to earth, neutral, and phase. The phase line is the one that carries current, the neutral line provides the return path to balance the flow of current, and finally earthing is purely used for safety purposes. Earth or ground is a precautionary connection made in AC connections to prevent damage due to fluctuations. The main use of earthing is for human safety from electrical shock.
Any electrical equipment when it gets in contact with the metal surfaces will result in electrical shock. Earthing will provide a low resistance path that will direct extra electricity to the ground.
The neutral wire is used for providing a return path for the flow of current in an AC circuit. The neutral wire carries no current, yet without neutral wire the AC circuit is incomplete. That wire is known as your hot wire. Of course, in order to complete the circuit, a wire must return the electrons to the power supply to turn the lightbulb on. To summarize: the hot wire carries electricity from the power supply and takes it to the load lightbulb.
Neutral wires take the used electricity from the load and bring it back to the power supply. Instead, they are connected to a transformer. With direct current, the electricity moves in a straight path through the hot wire, to the load, back through the neutral wire, and then back to the power source. You can think of a direct current as a boat moving along a river that eventually returns to the lake it originated from in a loop. With alternating current, the electrons move back and forth between the wires constantly instead of a perfect, consistent loop.
For a much more comprehensive look at how wiring works in your home, check out this helpful video courtesy of The Engineering Mindset:. Wiring accidents can prove fatal, so only take on a wiring project if you have the experience and are confident that you can do it right.
But not all homes may have it. To tell if your home has ground wire, check your outlets. If your outlets have three prongs, then your home has ground wire.
If there are only two prongs, then ground wire may not be utilized. If the latter is the case, we recommend consulting with Roman Electric to help determine if your home can be retrofitted with new ground wire. Check back at Roman Electric for more electrical wiring tips!
And contact us for affordable and quality wiring and rewiring services. Close Menu. Looking for commercial services? Hot Wire Hot wire is used as the initial power feed to a circuit. Neutral Wire Once hot wire has initialized the beginning of a circuit, there must be another wire to complete the circuit. Ground Wire So, with hot and neutral already being used to make a circuit, what role is left?
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