bud-- wrote:
On 11/26/2013 3:28 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Wild_Bill wrote:
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.
Idiot. Read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-wire_earth_return
I think it was used in the early days of the REA.
Where has it been used in the US in the last 50 years.
I don't remember ever seeing transmission or distribution lines without
a neutral.
I haven't been in a rural enough area in years to even look for one.
The fact that it isn't common doesn't mean that it doesn't still exist.
Some farms were 20 miles from the nearest highway, on a private dirt or
clay road. They were electrified by either a co-op or the TVA and 20
miles of copper wire was expensive.
--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.