DIYbanter - View Single Post - Grounding--ground wire

Doug Miller

In article ,
says...

No, in an ideal world that would be true, the problem is we don't live
in an ideal world. The difference would be that if you cut the white wires
and held one in each hand in an unbalanced load situation you would have
current flowing thought you.

You don't have to cut the white wire to get yourself in trouble.
Touching an exposed part of an *intact* neutral creates a parallel path
to ground through your body. Depending on how the resistance of that
path is, you could be in serious trouble.