Your Personal And Comprehensive Dermatologist; Servicing The Entire Oconomowoc and Watertown, WI Areas. Dr. Neils is board certified in Internal Medicine and Dermatology and has been practicing in Wisconsin for over 30 years. He is a staff physician at Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital and Watertown Regional Medical Center.
Credit: NoDerog E+ Getty Images. In a three-prong plug, the neutral wire is connected through the right-handed prong, when one is looking at the plug with the ground prong on the bottom. The neutral prong is the wider of the two plugs. The ground wire is also connected to the ground to prevent short circuits. However, the neutral wire's purpose is to be part of the live path for electricity, rather than to act as a safety guard if something goes wrong. Sometimes, these two wires are mixed up, as the neutral wire is commonly referred to as the grounded wire.
The third prong in a grounded outlet is connected to a wire that runs back to the breaker panel and to a conductive rod driven into the ground. The purpose of the third prong (the ground) is to protect you and protect your wiring.