It is also connected to the ground wire. However the neutral and ground wires serve two distinct purposes.
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What is a neutral wire. The bare wire is called the ground wire. The neutral prong is the wider of the two plugs. The grounded electrode conductor. What is a neutral wire. In an electrical circuit a neutral wire delivers the remaining power that was left after your smart switch or any kind of appliance draws current back to the transformer outside your house. Thats the main purpose of a neutral wire to serve as a pathway for energy to return back to the original source.
The neutral wire is connected to an earth ground. In a three prong plug the neutral wire is connected through the right handed prong when one is looking at the plug with the ground prong on the bottom. The neutral is an insulated wire because it is part of the circuit which flows electrical current. The neutral wire in electronics is the wire in which electricity returns from the hot wire. Neutral wires are usually connected at a neutral bus within panelboards or switchboards and are bonded to earth ground at either the electrical service entrance or at transformers within the system. It is a path created to facilitate that residual current goes easily back to the energy company.
A neutral wire helps to complete this loop by bringing current electricity backto the power supply completing the circuit and keeping the power on. The neutral wire the purpose of the neutral wire is to complete the 120volt ac circuit by providing the path back to the electrical panel where the neutral wire is connected and bonded to the earth ground. Like the neutral wire the ground wire is also connected to an earth ground.