Electric circuit

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panhandle444

panhandle444

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I'm looking for a diagram that shows how the electricity flows from the circuit breaker through the load.... To explain to an apprentice how a single phase circuit works.

Thanks
 
panhandle444 said:
If Im here asking...obviously I'm not confident my electrical theory....power goes from circuit breaker....then through load....goes back on neutral to the utility transformer?
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Could YouTube Engineering Mindset (believe his name is Paul). He’s got some good material pertaining to showing the fundamentals of how electricity works.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Exactly...the return is always to the source.
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And even in the non-electrical world the word "circuit" usually refers to a path or journey ending in the same place, like a racetrack, someone on a lecture circuit, etc.
So there's a good reason they used the word "circuit" with electricity.

From the Oxford dictionary for "circuit":
Origin
late Middle English: via Old French from Latin circuitus, from circuire, variant of circumire ‘go round’, from circum ‘around’ + ire ‘go’.
 
Some years ago, I posted this in response to a member who had trouble understanding neutrals and grounding. It doesn't directly explain your question, but may help.

Understanding the Neutral Conductor

Dennis, here's a really basic lesson, and we'll start with direct current, because the fact that we use alternating current is not relevant to the basics: Picture a battery, like you'd find two of in a flashlight. You have a terminal at each end, with a difference in potential of 1.5 volts...
forums.mikeholt.com
 
panhandle444 said:
If Im here asking...obviously I'm not confident my electrical theory....power goes from circuit breaker....then through load....goes back on neutral to the utility transformer?
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Here's a simple illustration of a two wire circuit., follow the arrows.

1607518134972.png

Roger
 
K8MHZ said:
So if I only connect a single breaker to my residential service, there will be no neutral? ...
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That's right. It's only "neutral" if the currents in all the ungrounded conductors are equal & opposite* and no current is flowing in the white/grounded conductor.
If there's current flowing in it, it's not "neutral".
Why the white/grounded return conductor is so widely called "neutral" when it's not, I cannot explain. (let alone defend)

* or their vector sum is zero, where there's more than one phase.
 
drcampbell said:
That's right. It's only "neutral" if the currents in all the ungrounded conductors are equal & opposite* and no current is flowing in the white/grounded conductor.
If there's current flowing in it, it's not "neutral".
Why the white/grounded return conductor is so widely called "neutral" when it's not, I cannot explain. (let alone defend)

* or their vector sum is zero, where there's more than one phase.
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What is the name of the conductor in the drawing that the grounding electrode conductor is connected to?
 
drcampbell said:
That's right. It's only "neutral" if the currents in all the ungrounded conductors are equal & opposite* and no current is flowing in the white/grounded conductor.
If there's current flowing in it, it's not "neutral".
Why the white/grounded return conductor is so widely called "neutral" when it's not, I cannot explain. (let alone defend)

* or their vector sum is zero, where there's more than one phase.
Click to expand...
The NEC defines the neutral as the conductor connected to the mid point of a single phase three wire system. That's how I was taught as well.
 
K8MHZ said:
The NEC defines the neutral as the conductor connected to the mid point of a single phase three wire system. That's how I was taught as well.
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Then what's your question? Forget the NEC definition, in a two wire circuit both sides of a load see the same current, in fact with a single load it is a series circuit

Roger
 
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