Delbert Freeman wrote:
....

You are right about the 240v being, essentially, two 120v lines. Unlike
120V, which has a Hot, Common and Ground, the 240 has (or can run on) 2
Hot and a Ground/Common. ...

To clarify for OP what could be misinterpreted given it appears little
or no familiarity exists...240V has _only_ two 120V 'hots' and an
associated ground, _no_ neutral.

Three wire appliance outlets (no longer NEC Code-compliant, now need
four) utilized the ground conductor as the 120V neutral as well for the
120V (components like motor, light, etc.) but the 240V heater coil is
tied directly across the two hot and isn't anywhere connected to a
"neutral". Ditto for 240V motors; there's a third wire but it's ground,
not neutral and the motor doesn't care whether it's there or not.

To go on for OP who seemed surprised to learn what 240V comprises, the
240V is generated by tapping from a transformer at such points that one
leg is 180-deg out of phase (in time) w/ the other so when one leg is at
the positive sine peak the other is at it's negative max. The RMS
difference between these is then the 240V your voltmeter sees while each
(being AC) measures 120V to a neutral. While these are commonly called
"phases", the phase there is the time shift within a single one of the
three phase generation phases from the powerco. It's still single-phase
power.

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