The worst case is the switch explodes and creates a fire. You may find some clues on the wires but if not you can do a simple test.
Want To Rewire Your Brain For Meaningful Life Changes Do
What happens if you wire a light backwards. And be sure to attach the green or bare wireto the green colored groundscrew. If you put a white wire and a black wire on the switch poles the best case is that you get a dead short and you trip the breaker. If you find more than one wire connected to an outlet or switch correct the problem by joining the wires with a wire connector and include a pigtail a short length of the same type of wire. A few homes have some of their wires reversed on a circuit. This is a standard wiring practice. Led light will not turn on if the polarity is reversed.
There is a possibility that the switchwill be damaged. And loose wires are a very bad thing. Then attach the black leg to the side of the switchlabeled black or the side with the brass screw. If there is a light switch controlling the light it is because they ran romex wire wich has black white and a ground usually to the switch so common on power coming to fixture goes to common on light hot wire ties to either black or white going to switch the other one is hooked to other side of switch and going to hot on the light. In all cases you have to determine which of the wires are hot and neutral to wire it safely. In which case you will need to turn the power back off and unwire the switch and the other wire thats twisted together in the wire nut.
If one of the wires is still hot at the light fixture with the switch in the off position then you most likely have the light switch on the neutral wire. This usually results in a loose connection. The easiest way to tell which wire is the positive and which is the negative is to test the wires with a 12v battery. You gounded the fixture itself not the socket which wouldnt be grounded anyway that i know of. Just remember that the side of the socket is hot now not the bottom tip. With this method you will be able to tell which wire is positive and negative.
There is a tester that plugs into a wall plug an. Be sure to attach the white leg to the side of the switchlabeled white or the side with the silver screw.
Gallery of What Happens If You Wire A Light Backwards
