power cord directionality


IF power cords do indeed have preferred directionality, and one is inadvertently flipped for a few hours, does it "harm"it?
128x128jw944ts
Yes, you can't turn a power cord backwards.
And you should never be able to do that (Imagen two male ends and one is in the wall and the other end is becoming deadly..)
When you build a power cord then if it has a screen. You may connect the screen only in the wall side so all interface that the screen is getting is drained to earth at the wall side (you do not want to connect the screen to the ground in both of the ends like a conductor).
But it is irellavat if you are not building your own cables when you can't turn it around anyway as a user.

But it is another story with RCA interconnects. There you CAN turn them around (because they are not deadly). And the screen is only attached at one of the ends of the cable.
Usually the screen is attached at the source component end (that is one of the reasons it has the direction label).
But what happens if your source do not use the ground in the power cord (no power cord on passive preamps for example going to power amplifier)?
Should we flip the interconnects so that the screen drain is at the receiving end and that component use ground?

roberjerman
If wire has "directionality" why hasn’t somebody in the past two hundred years found a way to measure and quantify it? Instead all that can be said is "my golden ears tell me it is so". This is NOT a scientific method in the least!

>>>>>Observation - also known as empirical data - is a cornerstone of the scientific method. 

optimize
Yes, you can’t turn a power cord backwards.
And you should never be able to do that (Imagen two male ends and one is in the wall and the other end is becoming deadly..)

When you build a power cord then if it has a screen. You may connect the screen only in the wall side so all interface that the screen is getting is drained to earth at the wall side (you do not want to connect the screen to the ground in both of the ends like a conductor).
But it is irellavat if you are not building your own cables when you can’t turn it around anyway as a user.

But it is another story with RCA interconnects. There you CAN turn them around (because they are not deadly). And the screen is only attached at one of the ends of the cable.
Usually the screen is attached at the source component end (that is one of the reasons it has the direction label).

But what happens if your source do not use the ground in the power cord (no power cord on passive preamps for example going to power amplifier)?
Should we flip the interconnects so that the screen drain is at the receiving end and that component use ground?

>>>>>Dear Mr. Optimize, you’re missing the point of why it’s important to construct the cables and power cords from the start with directionality of wire in mind. The shield is a separate issue and should be considered along with directionality of wire during construction. For cables without shield the manufacturer only need honor the directionality of the wire during construction. It’s not rocket science. 🚀
@ jw944ts It sounds like you don't trust the assembler of your cable to correct the mistake if you send it back, that they will try to "fool" you.  Nevertheless, I think you should discuss it with them and send it to them if they agree.

I am curious that you would mention your cable directionality may have been labeled wrong.  Any cable with directionality indicators I have owned the directionality indicators were imprinted on the cable along with manufacturer, gauge, etc.  How could it have been labeled wrong, was it just an arrow on piece of paper stuck onto the wire?
@geoffkait 
It is uncontroversial that the structure of wire is impacted during the extruding process to create the various gauges.

What is not so clear is how this impact on the wire during the process of making its gauge can actually change the sound coming though the cable.  Can you shed a little light on this?