Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: How can I recognize true ground?
Message-ID: <1989Jul12.155242.17578@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <18425@mimsy.UUCP> <1547@unccvax.UUCP> <3283@kitty.UUCP> <5651@stiatl.UUCP> <178@zip.eecs.umich.edu>
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 15:52:42 GMT

In article <178@zip.eecs.umich.edu> don@zip.eecs.umich.edu.UUCP (Don Winsor) writes:
>... His line of reasoning was that the
>ground and neutral wires all went to the same bus bar on the
>main breaker panel, so running another conductor offered no
>advantage...

If neutral is carrying a significant current, there will be a significant
voltage drop between the outlet end and the bus-bar end of the wire.  So
neutral can be "hot" by a noticeable amount at the outlet even if it's
grounded at the bus bar.

NEUTRAL IS NOT GROUND!
-- 
$10 million equals 18 PM       |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
(Pentagon-Minutes). -Tom Neff  | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu