Voltage

[jim dungar]

Would a single phase 208 volt circuit be two sine waves 120° apart?

Only if it was a 3 wire circuit, and you were using the neutral as a reference.

 

[wwhitney]

Would a single phase 208 volt circuit be two sine waves 120° apart?

To talk about two voltage sinewaves, you need to have at least 3 conductors. So if you mean just L1 and L2 alone, there's only one sine wave.

But if L1 and L2 are part of a larger 208Y/120V system, then the neutral point N will be grounded. And your 2-wire L1-L2 circuit will have an EGC G.

In which case, yes, L1-G will be 120 degrees apart from L2-G. In contrast to a 120/240V system, where L1-G and L2-G are 180 degrees apart (or negatives of each other).

Cheers, Wayne