Hot and even live electrical wires refer to wires that are connected to a source of electrical power. The hot or live wire in residential circuits is usually black or red. However, someone may have mis-wired or used the wrong color wire before you purchased your home. If you touch a live wire and also connected to the earth (standing on it, touching a water pipe, etc) chances are good that you’ll receive an electrical shock, potentially a fatal one. So, why are electrical wires called hot, neutral, or ground wires?
Beware: The neutral wire and even a ground wire (discussed below) are carrying electrical current in some conditions, and are also potential sources of electrical shock, especially if the electrical wiring in a building is defective.
Ground means simply Mother Earth or something connected to earth, such as a cold water pipe in your home or a copper rod driven onto the ground outside your house near where electric power enters.
Literally, electricity in buildings flows from a power source to the earth. In some countries what is called “ground” in the U.S. is called “earth”. Buildings with safe electrical wire contain one or more local connections to earth, wired from the electrical panel, through a grounding electrode (a ground rod), to the earth. The white or neutral wire is connected to this ground in the electrical panel. (A second “ground” connection in electrical panels connects back to a remote ground or earth connection provided (somewhere) by the utility company.))
The earth is such a huge volume of matter that a measurable surplus or shortage of electrons never exists. Earth or ground, therefore, is always electrically neutral.
Ground, and wires connected to ground, can accept electrons or give them up as necessary to cause current to flow between ground and a point at which a shortage or surplus exists.
While both grounding wires and neutral wires are connected to ground, there is a difference in the job each performs in electrical wiring. The job of the ground wire is to provide a path to ground for electric energy when faults occur in the primary power wiring or in electrical devices. Grounding wires may have green insulation or no insulation.
Neutral wires: The job of the white wire (neutral) is to provide the normal path for return current flow to the source when no wiring faults exist. The term hot wire refers to the wire with black or red insulation. This is the wire that causes current to flow between it and the neutral wire (or grounding wire if a fault occurs.
Warning: Do not attempt to work on your electrical wiring, switches, or outlets unless you are properly trained and equipped to do so. Electrical wires hot, neutral, or ground, wires in a building can easily cause an electrical shock, burn, or even death. Call a licensed electrician in Fontana at United Plumbing Heating Air & Electric for any additional concerns.
