On 21 Aug 2003, David Jensen wrote:

The thing that still confuses me with the statement, "A neutral
carries current, a ground does not" is that both the neutral and the
ground tie into the same grounding block inside the panel. To this
laymen's mind it seems that they would be carrying the same current
since they are tied together at the panel. In other words, if they
tie together at the panel, what's the difference in tying them
together at the receptacal? What am I not understanding here?

Yes, they are tied together at the service panel, and the two of
them along with the black(red) wire go out to your circuit. It
might be easier to understand if you don't just think of one light
fixture or duplex, but rather a "typical" home circuit of 3 or 4
"convenience outlets" on one breaker. And it might help to
envision the wires "spread out" just a little more, rather than
bundled in a vinyl or steel jacket. Picture your Black & White
with all of your devices wired across them, and your bare ground
wire hanging out ther in the distance. -Always- there, but
-never- intentionally connected to the Neutral side of a device.

If you think of only 1 device, say a duplex receptacle, it's very
easy to think "so what if they're wired together, it's the same
wire", but if you look at that 3 or 4 duplex run, and consider
any of the points in the middle, you should realize that it's
-not- the same wire. IOW, you could open up any of those boxes
in that branch circuit and expect: a) the white wire IS carrying
current, and b) the neutral wire is NOT carrying current.

As soon as somebody screws with that, they wipe out that intended
safety buffer. IOW, if you go to the 2nd outlet in that chain and
connect the white and neutral, the next guy who comes in contact
with the white/neutral back @ outlet #1 is in for a surprise, the
severity of which depends on how much resistance is in that ground
path as compared to true ground. If it's a good solid connection
they may not een feel a tingle, if it's worse, they could get a
substantial shock.

The key to it all (remembering the thing about "A neutral carries
current, a ground does not") is that anyone working on the circuits
should be able to assume that there is never any current flow
through ANYTHING that is supposed to be at ground potential, and
that includes metal boxes and cover plates along with conduit, BX,
and the bare wire inside a run of Romex.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Hey, it's a slow night, ya know? g

--
TP