[Gllug] OT: Mains electricity colour coding.

[general_email at technicalbloke.com]

Hi All,

For time immemorial I have been told brown is live, blue is neutral and 
yellow/green is earth. Mains electricity is AC so it oscillates between 
the positive and negative 50 times a second right? In that case why does 
it matter which way you wire the blue and brown cables to the nominally 
blue and brown terminals in a plug? I always assumed you could 
electrocute yourself equally well by touching the blue terminal, maybe 
even better as the brown's got a fuse that might protect you!

I'm slowly working my way through W.P.Jolly's seemingly excellent "Teach 
Yourself Electronics" so maybe it'll all become clear soon, having said 
that - I'm also impatient!

I'm wondering now if and how the notion of "live" and "neutral" is 
different to that of "positive and negative". If so can anyone breifly 
explain or point me to a website that explains? Haven't had much joy 
with google so far :/

Yours ignorantly,

Roger.
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