Power conditioner vs use of a audio grade outlet?

Thank you for sticking with me on this, @erik_squires  , if you could bear with me just a bit longer:

if this was the ideal circuit in a utopian world of circuitry and there was NO resistance

(V=5A x 0R=0V)

then you are saying that although 5 amps of current are flowing through this white neutral wire, it is not dangerous because the formula dictates that 0 volts are created.  In this hypothetical circuit.  Correct?

But you are also saying that in reality this hypothetical circuit doesn't exist, and the example you used of what does exist is

v=5Ax10R=50V

so the white wire (with 10R) is not only carrying current, but because of the 10R it is also carrying volts?  Is that correct?

(And on an aside, doesn't this mean that the old saying, "it's not the volts but the amps that kills you" is not exactly correct, as I am getting out of this that amps without R would not be dangerous?)

But back to my question that prompted this explanation from you: in the real world circuit that you used for an example

V=5Ax10R=50V

what happens to that formula when it reaches the neutral bar via the white wire?  Is it that because of the massive ground cable that ALL resistance disappears at this point and the ingredients for the 50V are gone?

I use high quality outlets for their obvious grabbiness as that's sort of comforting. Note that none of the "premium" AC cables I use display that sort of grabbiness on the component end...weird...

@immatthewj

then you are saying that although 5 amps of current are flowing through this white neutral wire, it is not dangerous because the formula dictates that 0 volts are created. In this hypothetical circuit. Correct?

Right. This is why they sometimes connecte the chassis to the neutral. Over time they realized the 0 R expectations didn’t hold often enough to prevent life safety issues.

But you are also saying that in reality this hypothetical circuit doesn’t exist, and the example you used of what does exist is

v=5Ax10R=50V

kind of. The issue isn’t that a good N has R on it, it’s that wiring goes bad. My home audio system has about 2V on the neutral right now. I could touch that, no problem. In a year, who knows?? :)

So yes, wiring is not perfect, but a GOOD conductor has around 0.5 Ohms or less, never perfectly 0 though. Room temperature superconductors don’t exist yet.

The safety issues occur when the conductor is no longer a good one. When it goes bad however is when the voltage rises to unsafe levels.  There are of course also issues where N and hot are reversed.  This is why those $5 3 prong testers alert for this situation as well.

But back to my question that prompted this explanation from you: in the real world circuit that you used for an example

That’s more like a real-world failure example. Not a real-world good circuit.

neutral bar via the white wire? Is it that because of the massive ground cable that ALL resistance disappears at this point and the ingredients for the 50V are gone?

You need to understand that the 2 hots and neutral are coming from a center tapped transformer. Bonding the neutral to ground there forces the neutral to be 0V relative to ground, and the two hots are at 120V relative to it. Assuming you are at ground too, there’s 0V between you and neutral and therefore no current flow.

Now, assume you take a white wire from there, and run it 100’ away. There’s no current, so it’s still at 0 V.

Thank you, @erik_squires  .