Why does standing on the earth complete a circuit

[Alarm]

Oi, I mentioned "Ducks" first, so keep out of it

 

[Heinz57]

Oi, I mentioned "Ducks" first, so keep out of it

Sorry,

I'll go for *Leaps for cover* then

 

[Wontdothatagain]

@aptsys - Yes. Electrons look for the quickest, easyest or shortest path to ground/earth. They don't care whats conducting them, so long as it can carry them.

Which way do electrons flow in an AC circuit?

Electrons travel from - to +

http://mste.illinois.edu/murphy/HoleFlow/default.html

 

[Alarm]

Oi, I mentioned "Ducks" first, so keep out of it

Sorry,

I'll go for *Leaps for cover* then

As in " He legged it like any french officer" ?

Better explain " frogs legs" and a joke b4 a mod sets me on my limit........................

 

[aptsys]

@aptsys - Yes. Electrons look for the quickest, easyest or shortest path to ground/earth. They don't care whats conducting them, so long as it can carry them.

Which way do electrons flow in an AC circuit?

@Aptsys, you tell me. The clue is in the name, alternating current

So why are electrons going to look for the shortest path to ground/earth?

 

[riveralt]

@aptsys - Yes. Electrons look for the quickest, easyest or shortest path to ground/earth. They don't care whats conducting them, so long as it can carry them.

Which way do electrons flow in an AC circuit?

@Aptsys, you tell me. The clue is in the name, alternating current

So why are electrons going to look for the shortest path to ground/earth?

Heniz57 I think you should retire gracefully from this one.....

 

[Alarm]

@aptsys - Yes. Electrons look for the quickest, easyest or shortest path to ground/earth. They don't care whats conducting them, so long as it can carry them.

Which way do electrons flow in an AC circuit?

@Aptsys, you tell me. The clue is in the name, alternating current

So why are electrons going to look for the shortest path to ground/earth?

Cos better people than us told us........

 

[ban-all-sheds]

ie. think of a wave pool, and a rubber ducky going up and down on the wave. The rubber ducky is the electron. At the end of the pool the energy is emitted.

Think, instead, of a rigid, inelastic rod.

As soon as one end is pushed, the other end moves. And it begins to move no matter how slowly the rod is moved. This is analogous to the speed of propagation down a cable.

If you never change the direction, then eventually the end you are pushing will get to where the other end was when you started. But if you push and pull, repeatedly, your end will never get to where the other end was when you started, even though the other end is also moving all the time. This is analogous to the movement of electrons along a cable.

 

[Alarm]

ie. think of a wave pool, and a rubber ducky going up and down on the wave. The rubber ducky is the electron. At the end of the pool the energy is emitted.

Think, instead, of a rigid, inelastic rod.

As soon as one end is pushed, the other end moves. And it begins to move no matter how slowly the rod is moved. This is analogous to the speed of propagation down a cable.

If you never change the direction, then eventually the end you are pushing will get to where the other end was when you started. But if you push and pull, repeatedly, your end will never get to where the other end was when you started, even though the other end is also moving all the time. This is analogous to the movement of electrons along a cable.

Tried both ways, been taught both ways.

Is this a trick question?

 

[ebee]

I think the statement that electrons try to find their way back to earth could be misleading.

The point is that we deliberately connected one pole to earth and call it a neutral . Consequently any voltage of an opposite polarity completes the circuit because it is using the earth as a conductor.

Bathroom shaver sockets are different because the output from them just has two poles of opposing polarities therefore touching one and the earth would not give a current flow, touching both at the same time would though.

 

[Heinz57]

Yes exactly. What I put down is the basic theory. Going into AC then things can get slightly more complicated.

I don't want to go into the whole AC theory, it can get quite in depth, and indeed complicated. Well it does at the level I was/am tought it at.


What ebee has just said about calling this particular connection 'neutral' is correct, it is just what we are perceiving. Interestingly, something I was recently tought is that both the live and neutral connections can be considerd 'live', which is why technicaly speaking, live is normaly 'line' connection. But that is for another discussion.

 

[matt1e]

What ebee has just said about calling this particular connection 'neutral' is correct, it is just what we are perceiving. Interestingly, something I was recently tought is that both the live and neutral connections can be considerd 'live', which is why technicaly speaking, live is normaly 'line' connection. But that is for another discussion.

I'm sure I covered all that third post

 

[AdrianUK]

You would get a shock because the electrons are looking for the quickest way to ground, which in the case of this would be you..

Not quite true..... the electrons will take each & every available route back to the source. The impedances of the various paths govern how the current will subdiivde down those routes.

If you touch a 'live' wire, some current will flow through your body, through the general mass of earth, up the earth rod at the substation and back to the star point of the supply transformer (ie. its source). The majority of the current will still flow through the neutral conductor & back to the star point of the transformer, as it was doing before you touched anything.

 

[matt1e]

The majority of the current will still flow through the neutral conductor & back to the star point of the transformer, as it was doing before you touched anything.

Not if the circuit isn't energised it won't
I.e if you touch the live side of a switch thats in the off position for example

 

[AdrianUK]

Not if the circuit isn't energised it won't
I.e if you touch the live side of a switch thats in the off position for example

Yeap, fair point.... I did assume a normal, healthy, operating circuit that was actively powering something......