On Tue, 26 Nov 2013 08:16:40 -0500, clare wrote:

She is referring to the "safety groun d", not the neutral, or she is
"dumming it down". It IS still used as a ground return on a VERY small
basis in very limitted locations - as SWERT.

heh heh ... rather than supply a reference, another guy also attacked
the credentials of the many references providing, implying, essentially,
that facts taught at a junior college are essentially wrong, simply
because it's not a four-year college.

And, now you bring up SWERT, which also has nothing to do with the
question of typical power distribution in the United States, since
neither you nor I are getting our household power through SWERT.

Let's keep SWERT out of this because the entire discussion is about
the typical US power distribution system, which is basically how
we're getting the electrons to do this typing at our keyboards.

Also, let's not try to prove our points simply by stating that the
reference is wrong because it's from a junior college or that the
answer is simplified so therefore it must be wrong.

The statement the professor made is simplified, but, it's not
untrue because it's simplified.

The class teaches students:
"The power company essentially uses the earth as one of
the wires in the power system. The earth is a pretty good
conductor and it is huge, so it makes a good return path
for electrons."

Anyway, I'll stop asking for a reference that shows otherwise.

What I'll do is continue to try to understand the typical power
distribution scheme in the United States, with your help.