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Question:

in house wiring, why is the black wire hot?

When I cross the black wire and ground I get a spark. Isnthis normal?

Answer:

You should be tripping the breaker when you cross the two, If not, then something is wrong with the breaker. The black is always hot, this isn't a car. Actually, any colored wire is hot except for the white and the green. So in a big house with emt conduit or a commercial job, any colored wire is hot. A 3 way switch with a 3rd leg traveler that is not marked can carry a load, I got knocked off the ladder the other day by one, some idiot connected the traveler to the white, I got zapped big time. I hate when they do that.
Well, one of the wires has to be hot, or it defeats the entire purpose! Yes, generally black is the code for the hot wire. White is generally neutral, and green is ground. There are weird exceptions, so don't assume anything about anything. White and green are not the same, by design. There should be working voltage between either of them. There should be negligible voltage between neutral and ground. If you don't know what you're doing, don't work on house wiring with the power on. That stuff can burn you. Burns are the worst injury to recover from, in terms of taking a long time, being painful during that time, and leaving you scarred in the end. On second thought, don't work on it with the power off either. You can hook things up wrong and it will seemingly work until one day it bites somebody, possibly not you. Learn how to do it properly. It is not that hard, but you do need to do the research. It also helps to have a few basic tools like the plug polarity checker.
One you always need a hot wire to operate stuff and to run the circuit. never assume one color wire is the hot wire you never know what someone wired a item or a circuit up with maybe they only had green wire on their truck. I don't care if the wire is red, white, purple, blue , green or black i always to test to see what wires are my hot wires and what wires are line voltage. There are too many people who don't follow code and just wire up stuff how ever they want as long as it works for them. so protect yourself and test everything and wire stuff up right if you don't know how to read a book or get some training like someone else said its not difficult you just have to respect electricity and what it can do.
This Site Might Help You. RE: in house wiring, why is the black wire hot? When I cross the black wire and ground I get a spark. Isnthis normal?
For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/YcrqW Get one of those screwdrivers that light up when it touches the hot lead. Mark it with black tape, then mark the other with white tape. You can get another tester with 2 wires. Touch one side to the box (metal) and you touch the other to one of the wires. If it lights, that's the hot one. Then touch the other one and you should not see it light. 1- Tape the hot wire with black tape and the common on with white. 2- In the fuse box, the wire that comes off the fuse is the hot one. 3- In a breaker box, the hot wire comes off the breaker screw. Have a real electrician do the wiring and make sure he has a license. If you own your own house, you still need a permit and have the finished work inspected. Good luck !

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