I am so fucking confused so I come to you, sci. How is three

>>8132140
>How is three phase power distributed and where does the neutral come from?
The neutral is a center tap on the transformer secondary.

>Browse to Wikipedia
>see picture with four wires on pole
>read text that clearly describes "one wire for neutral, others for A, B and C phases"

>conclude that OP is an idiot.

>>8132140
you don't need a neutral at all times.

look up floating neutral you faggot

>>8132193
>>8132140
to be more precise, during transportation, the arrangement is in triangle (or delta ), and at use the arrangement is in star (or Y)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-%CE%94_transform


In the Y arrangement, you can add a wire at the center that will be the neutral.

If you want to get rid of the neutral, you can either have a floating neutral or adopt a delta arrangement.

The latter allows companies to save money from not using another cable.

>>8132140
draw the phase diagram and see for yourself or plot the 3 sign waves on a graph

for balanced, star connected loads the voltages at the centre cancel to give 0v ie. a floating ground connection

File: 1361515906321.jpg (29KB, 400x400px) Image search: [Google]

29KB, 400x400px

>>8132193
>floating neutral
holy fucking christ. I feel so fucking enlightened. Thanks a lot. Thanks everyone.

I still have a question about transformers. If it's three phase then you can have a floating neutral since you have the other phases which can be the return path.

But what if it's single phase and you have one wire? One wire goes as input to the transformer and and out comes two? Don't you need at least two wires?

>>8133174
this is weird.
Either you have one CABLE (which contains two wires inside), or you have two wires at some point :)

Let's keep this thread three-phase.

I live in the suburbs and there are small houses. All the houses including my house has three-phase power (four wires). Why is that? Isn't three phase for industries and shit?

What they have done at the main panel is that each phase is assigned to different sections (rooms) of the house.

>>8134123
>All the houses including my house has three-phase power (four wires). Why is that? Isn't three phase for industries and shit?
yes it is
very bad design really.
They try to balance the power on all the phases by spreading the consumption on them, but it's hard to guarantee that.
usually power is transported in 3-phase, then when the wiring gets close to the houses, the phases are separated and each house gets one phase.
you can get 3-phase at home but it's more costly (you should check if you are billed more because of this btw).
And it's used for big power sinks like big motors

>>8134137
I live in a shithole and low voltage is an issue here. Won't three phase actually help? We have a big house.