Quote Originally Posted by coffeeachiever View Post
Stu,
I think I see what you're saying. In a light switch there is a hot, a neutral and and ground where the neutral carries the return current.

But this setup is different. If the unconnected plates are open to the charge of the corresponding charged plate, doesn't that by definition make them neutral?
In a light switch, the neutral and ground are the same thing!

If you open your house pannel, you will see that all the neutral wires collect to a bus bar, as also do the ground wires connect to a similar bus bar. The two bus bars are connected!

The object of having the ground wire in addition to the neutral, is so that when a man works on the electrical switch, outlet, or what have you...........

If you disconnect the neutral wire, and didn't have a separate ground wire, there is the possibility, that you could become the ground, sustaining a possibly fatal shock!