I don't see the earlier comment, but from the links and the search question,
I presume the conversation was about a circuit term referred to as "return".

A lot f folks are fixated on naming one power lead as "return", when there
is nothng related to any sort of "return" taking place in a circuit.

There are 2 conductors.. and one is a higher potential than the other.
That's all there is to it, but you'll probably never fnd ths statement in
any text book.

The power is disspated at the load, and there is nothing to return to any
other location.

I don't know where the fantasy of a return originated, but there is none iin
an electrical circuit.
Hydraulic circuit, yes, thre is generally always a return line.. for obvious
reasons.

The earth, meaning the planet, is not half of an electrical crcuit.. with
maybe one exception being lightning strikes.
Hills and terrain affect RF energy, and the ground/earth at the base of an
antenna is often imbedded with conductors to form a ground plane.

Electrical circuts deliver power to an appliance, tool, light bulb etc as
the two differing potentials, and the power is disspated as heat, light,
motion etc at the device beng powered.

It is aburd to belive that power is returned thru many miles of distribution
gear and back to the generation source, or that it's returned thru the soil.
Yet, the majorty of folks believe and continue to express/repeat this
concept.

--
Cheers,
WB
..............


"Danny D'Amico" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:15:05 -0800, wrote:

They are *not* both valid. You have it wrong.

Well, this entire discussion is about how the power supply works, so,
it is germane to the discussion how the power company completes the
circuit.

I don't have any more arguments, and, we *do* have at least one
reference which supports my statement.

That doesn't mean I'm correct. What it means is we need more references
(either way), instead of our statements (since we all sincerely believe
what we're stating).

Googling for:
"how does electricity get back to the power company -solar"

This is on the first page (which was referenced already):
http://science.howstuffworks.com/env...rgy/power3.htm
It agrees with what I said (on page 4).

Here it says the same thing (that the earth is the return path):
http://www.science.smith.edu/~jcarde...ecPwr_HSW.html

And he
http://www.electricityforum.com/elec...-it-works.html

But those are all repeats. How about this Physics forum?
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=429670

Now, that does not prove that the earth is the return path
for the electricity back to the power company, but, it is clearly
a half dozen (or so) references which say what I've always thought
was the case.

That means that the idea isn't so far fetched as it may appear.
Admittedly, most of these references were cut out of the same
mold (probably due to my search terms?), so I welcome someone
who can find a reference that says the earth is *not* the return
path for the HVAC typical power generated in the USA.