What two wires are needed for electricity?

Answer 1

Electricity moves through wires like a group of people going on a bus ride from home, to some destination, and then returning back home again without leaving the bus.

Think of the peopler as being Electrons getting into the bus one after the other in an orderly manner. Now think of these people pushing a merry-go-round one after the other, then returning to the bus and back home again. When they get back home they consume energy, then return to the same bus and repeat the journey for as long as you want them to.

An electric Generator , or Battery is a source of continuous electrons (passengers with energy stored up) which travel through a copper wire (the bus) When they get to the Motor (the merry-go-round) they use their energy to rotate the Motor, then continue on their journey back to the Generator, soak up more energy and go back into the copper wire so as to return to the Motor with more energy.

The wire from the Energy source to the Motor is called the Positive or Active wire.

The wire from the Motor returning to the Energy source is called the Negative, or Neutral wire.

So, 2 wires are always needed.

One takes the energy to the Motor and the other wire returns to the energy source to complete the journey, or circuit.

Think of Electrons as Marbles in a continuous tube. When an energised marble goes into one end of the tube, an energised marble INSTANTLY pops out the other end of the tube. That explains why electricity flows so fast. The instant that an electron is given energy at the source, an electron at the motor (miles away) instantly gives its energy to the motor. More powerful sources need much thicker wires to carry their more powerful energy. If the electrons flow in the same direction all the time, then we call that DIRECT current. If you cut the wire, the electrons do not fall out, like marbles would. The electrons just stay in the wire and stop moving or flowing. When this happens, the Generator has a nice rest, or the Battery stops releasing its stored up energy.

Answer 2

To create an electrical circuit, you typically need one wire for the flow of current (called the "hot" wire) and another wire for the return path (called the "neutral" wire). The hot wire carries the current from the power source to the electrical device, while the neutral wire completes the circuit and carries the current back to the power source.