"Jim Wilkins" wrote in news
"Doug Miller" wrote in message
. ..
"Jim Wilkins" wrote in
news

Conceptually you get the right answer if you treat both loops of
the
circuit as separate and then add the currents,

*subtract the currents


Adding works if the direction is considered. I would have written 'add
algebraically' to an audience of engineers.

And I would have understood what you meant. Best to assume, though, IMHO, that most of
the people reading this discussion aren't engineers, and would be confused by the
terminology.

Since one current is arriving, and the other leaving, at the same point, they perforce have
opposite signs -- but electricians and laymen don't think that way. They see 70A current on
one leg, minus 30A current on the other, equals 40A in the neutral. and don't really care
about the fine points of Kirchoff's Current Law.