Thanks Ken, you're right. I was thinking that without current-sensing
abilities on the neutral side of the circuit that it might allow the full
available current, but of course a light bulb would just work as a light
bulb, drawing no more power than it was designed for! I feel a little dim
myself right now ;-(

Jack

"Ken Fowler" wrote in message
...

On 8-May-2004, "Jack Painter" wrote:

experiment) from keeping all of that available voltage (0v felt on
neutral)
as long as the current did not exceed 15a or whatever your breaker
allows.
Obviously a 100w light bulb shorted to ground would blow instantly,
before
the breaker could protect it..

Uhhhh, No! The most voltage from either wire of a 117 Volt household
circuit to any other wire or
to any made ground is 117 Volts. The light bulb would be quite happy to
glow at something up to its
normal brightness for as long as you wanted. Now if the grounded
conductor was somewhere out in a
field instead of being the local house ground, then the light bulb would
not receive the full 117
Volts, because of the resistance of the intervening earth, and would be
unhappily dim.

On 9-May-2004, "Jack Painter" wrote:

Thanks Ken, you're right. I was thinking that without current-sensing
abilities on the neutral side of the circuit that it might allow the full
available current, but of course a light bulb would just work as a light
bulb, drawing no more power than it was designed for! I feel a little dim
myself right now ;-(

Jack

No Problem. It's a good thing to point out that a light bulb with short leads can be used as a good
test device for the effectiveness of a circuit ground or to identify the hot (ungrounded conductor)
from the neutral (grounded conductor).
-ken-

Maybe it is time for the experiment.


Bill

Ken Fowler wrote:

On 9-May-2004, "Jack Painter" wrote:

Thanks Ken, you're right. I was thinking that without current-sensing
abilities on the neutral side of the circuit that it might allow the full
available current, but of course a light bulb would just work as a light
bulb, drawing no more power than it was designed for! I feel a little dim
myself right now ;-(

Jack

No Problem. It's a good thing to point out that a light bulb with short leads can be used as a good
test device for the effectiveness of a circuit ground or to identify the hot (ungrounded conductor)
from the neutral (grounded conductor).
-ken-

"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 09 May 2004 18:45:24 GMT, zeno wrote:
Theoretically, if "neutrals" (eg. the center taps of the step down
transformer's secondary) were not grounded anywhere on the Earth, would
the
Earth still act as the return path?
Hi Bill,

...[snip...]
there must be a complete circuit...
the "return path" of the hot lead is always the neutral
lead...

In other words, if the center tap of the pole transformer is not
connectod to a ground rod, connecting one side of a bulb to ground (to
complete the circuit) can't result in any current (given no other "secret"
paths).

Simply think of the pole transformer as a DC battery. Connect a light bulb
between one terminal of the battery and a ground rod. With the other
terminal of the battery not connected to a groung rod there is no complete
circuit. Its just hanging there.
The pole transformer has the center tap grounded for other safety
considerations - not to conduct current.

Take that bulb out in the field (with ONE hot lead back home) and it
will light with a brightness roughly proportional to the length of its
ground rod...unless there are problems in your neighbor's electrical
systems, then all bets are off...or you accidently grab the wire...

Measure the voltage between yours and your neighbor's ground rods.
Should be interesting.

OT:
[snip] Ground is ground,
Reminds me...
I have an old (toung-in-cheek) saying (when it comes to RF):
""A grounds a ground the world around."" Not many get my light-hearted
sarcasm.
--
Steve N, K,9;d, c. i My email has no u's.