[quote=spdrun]I understand the difference pretty clearly, actually. No need to be a condescending little man. A separate ground path is provided, because if you combine ground and neutral, any break in the neutral will cause normally grounded parts to go HOT.
You’d have the following situation.
H->LOAD->N->human->ground — the neutral/grounded side would be connected to hot through the load, but not tied to ground (0V). Since the load generally has a lower impedance than the human body, you’d have close to 120V across any grounded human that is unfortunate enough to touch the casing.
If it’s combined in the appliance, any break in the cord’s neutral conductor would have this result. If it’s combined in the outlet, any break in the neutral conductor leading to the outlet would have the same result.
Separating neutral and ground at the main breaker box is done for LIFE SAFETY, not for the power company’s safety.[/quote]
For you… I have no problem being condescending as you are quite frequently rude and condescending yourself. So little man take a look in the mirror or blame it on being a New Yorker.. I really don’t care.
But to discuss your point the two things that you describe above are electrical equivalencies. That is what you fail to recognize. Whether you ground the case or have a ground wire the effects are the same…
To carry the larger and deadlier amount of current through the wire instead of your body.
The ground wire does not carry all the current. Your body is also providing a path for the current as well but that current is very small and, usually less than what will kill you.
As for you argument about circuit breakers I am going to split hairs here. Circuit breakers are not life saving equipment pure and simple. They don’t save lives. Plenty of people have died on a untripped circuit and that is not their intent. A GFCI is a life saving device it, in itself, is a smart circuit breaker but those have only been in vogue for roughly 15 years now. Circuit breakers have always been there.
You only need 2 Amps to kill you. If for some reason there is a fault and you pull 2 Amps across your body and lets say for some reason the grounded instrument only pulls 2 Amps that is going to be far less than the 15 Amps used to trigger the breaker.
And you will be a nice char, where the current passes through you, when the cops finally open the door…
So no… circuit breakers are not life savers they are circuit savers otherwise the need for a GFCI would be unnecessary.
