Since the neutral point of an electrical supply system is often connected to earth ground, ground and neutral are closely related. Under certain conditions, a conductor used to connect to a system neutral is also used for grounding (earthing) of equipment and structures. Current carried on a grounding conductor can result in objectionable or dangerous voltages appearing on equipment enclosures, so the installation of grounding conductors and neutral conductors is carefully defined in electrical regulations. Where a neutral conductor is used also to connect equipment enclosures to earth, care must be taken that the neutral conductor never rises to a high voltage with respect to local ground.

Definitions[link]

Ground or earth in a mains (AC power) electrical wiring system is a conductor that provides a low impedance path to the earth to prevent hazardous voltages from appearing on equipment (the terms "ground" (North American practice) and "earth" (most other English-speaking countries) are used synonymously here). Under normal conditions, a grounding conductor does not carry current.

Neutral is a circuit conductor that carries current in normal operation, which is connected to ground (or earth).

In a polyphase or three-wire (single-phase) AC system, the neutral conductor is intended to have similar voltages to each of the other circuit conductors. By this definition, a circuit must have at least three wires for one to serve as a neutral.

In the electrical trade, the conductor of a 2-wire circuit that is connected to the supply neutral point and earth ground is also referred to as the "neutral".^[1]

The NEC and Canadian electrical code only define neutral as the first of these. In North American use, the second definition is used in less formal language but not in official specifications. In the UK the IET definition of a neutral conductor is one connected to the supply system neutral point, which includes both these uses.

All neutral wires of the same electrical system should have the same electrical potential, because they are all connected together through the system ground. Neutral conductors are usually insulated for the same voltage as the line conductors, with interesting exceptions.^[2]

Circuitry[link]

Neutral wires are usually connected together at a neutral bus within panelboards or switchboards, and are "bonded" to earth ground at either the electrical service entrance, or at transformers within the system. For electrical installations with three-wire single phase service, the neutral point of the system is at the center-tap on the secondary side of the service transformer. For larger electrical installations, such as those with polyphase service, the neutral point is usually at the common connection on the secondary side of delta/wye connected transformers. Other arrangements of polyphase transformers may result in no neutral point, and no neutral conductors.

Wiring colours[link]

UK Electrical wiring colours notices.

The insulation of a neutral wire is coloured blue in the EU. This has been same in the UK since 2006, although legacy cabling neutral wire is black in house wiring. In the USA white or grey is used. For large diameter wires or "mains" cables, the insulation of neutral conductors may be coloured black, as are also the phase or hot conductors, but they may be distinctively designated by applying the appropriate coloured tape—again blue in the EU, and white or grey in the USA and Canada. In the UK the phases of the incoming supply are designated L1, L2 and L3. (see the picture of wire colours).

Earthing systems[link]

The names for the following methods of earthing are those defined by IEC standards, which are used in Europe and many other regions. For a more detailed explanation, see earthing systems. Different terminology is used in North America, but the basic principles should be the same everywhere.

Different systems are used to minimize the voltage difference between neutral and local earth ground. In some systems, the neutral and earth join together at the service intake (TN-C-S); in others, they run completely separately back to the transformer neutral terminal (TN-S), and in others they are kept completely separate with the house earth having its own rod and the neutral connected to earth within the distribution network (TT). In a few cases, they are combined in house wiring (TN-C), but the dangers of broken neutrals (see below) and the cost of the special cables needed to mitigate this mean that it is rarely done nowadays.

Combining neutral with earth[link]

Stray voltages created in grounding (earthing) conductors by currents flowing in the supply utility neutral conductors can be troublesome. For example, special measures may be required in barns used for milking dairy cattle. Very small differential voltages, not usually perceptible to humans, may cause low milk yield, or even mastitis (inflammation of the udder).^[3] So-called "tingle voltage filters" may be required in the electrical distribution system for a milking parlour.

Connecting the neutral to the equipment case provides some protection against faults/shorts, but may produce a dangerous voltage on the case if the neutral connection is broken.

Combined neutral and ground conductors are commonly used in electricity supply companies' wiring and occasionally for fixed wiring in buildings and for some specialist applications where there is little alternative, such as railways and trams. Since normal circuit currents in the neutral conductor can lead to objectionable or dangerous differences between local earth potential and the neutral, and to protect against neutral breakages, special precautions such as frequent rodding down to earth (multiple ground rod connections), use of cables where the combined neutral and earth completely surrounds the phase conductor(s), and thicker than normal equipotential bonding must be considered to ensure the system is safe.

Fixed appliances on three-wire circuits[link]

In North America, the cases of some ranges, cook tops, ovens, clothes dryers and other specifically listed appliances were grounded through their neutral wires as a measure to conserve copper from copper cables during the Second World War. This practice was removed from the NEC in the 1996 edition, but existing installations (called "old work") may still allow the cases of such listed appliances to be connected to the neutral conductor for grounding. Note that the NEC may be amended by local regulations (the "authority having jurisdiction", generally abbreviated "AHJ") in each state, county and city. In some cases, the end-user may be his/her own AHJ, particularly where the premises is in a rural area.

This practice arose from the three wire system used to supply both 120 volt and 240 volt loads. Because these listed appliances often have components that use either 120, or both 120 and 240 volts, there is often some current on the neutral wire. This differs from the protective grounding wire, which only carries current under fault conditions. Using the neutral conductor for grounding the equipment enclosure was considered safe since the devices were permanently wired to the supply and so the neutral was unlikely to be broken without also breaking both supply conductors. Also, the unbalanced current due to lamps and small motors in the appliances was small compared to the rating of the conductors and therefore unlikely to cause a large voltage drop in the neutral conductor.

Portable appliances[link]

In North American practice, small portable equipment connected by a cord set is permitted to have only two conductors in the attachment plug under certain conditions. A polarized plug is used to maintain the identity of the neutral conductor into the appliance but it is never used as a chassis/case ground. The small cords to lamps, etc., often have one or more molded ridges or embedded strings to identify the neutral conductor, or may be identified by color. Portable appliances never rely on using the neutral conductor for case grounding, and often feature "double-insulated" construction.

In places where the design of the plug and socket cannot ensure that a system neutral conductor is connected to particular terminals of the device, portable appliances must be designed on the assumption that either pole of each circuit may reach full voltage with respect to ground. This connection is made using "unpolarized" plugs.

Technical equipment[link]

In North American practice, small or large technical equipment connected by a cord set must have three wires, if supplied exclusively by 240 volts, or must have four wires, if supplied by 120/240 volts.

There are special provisions in the NEC for so-called 60/120 volt technical equipment, mainly professional grade audio and video equipment supplied by so-called "balanced" 120 volt circuits. These cases generally use a grounding conductor which is "isolated" from the neutral conductor specifically for the purposes of noise and "hum" reduction.

See also[link]

• Appliance classes
• Electrical bonding
• Electrical wiring
• Electrical wiring (UK)
• Electrical wiring (United States)
• Earthing arrangements
• Ground (electricity)

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.iee.org/Publish/WireRegs/EarthingPlasticPipes.pdf document from Paul Cook of the IET talking about why bonding metal accessories fed by plastic pipes is a bad idea.
• Neutral Wire facts and mythology^{[dead link]}

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2009)

Billy Sherwood
Billy Sherwood in 1998
Background information
Birth name	William Wyman Sherwood
Born	(1965-03-14) 14 March 1965 (age 47)
Origin	Las Vegas, Nevada
Genres	Progressive rock
Occupations	Engineer, Producer, Songwriter, guitarist
Instruments	Guitar, keyboards, vocals
Years active	1980–present
Associated acts	Lodgic Yes Toto Circa Yoso

William "Billy" Wyman Sherwood (born March 14, 1965, Las Vegas, Nevada) is a musician, record producer, and engineer.

Biography[link]

Family[link]

Sherwood comes from a musical family which includes his father Bobby Sherwood, who was an actor, musician, and big band leader, his mother Phyllis, a singer and drummer, and brother Michael, a keyboardist and singer. His godfather is the late Milton Berle. Billy has a wife, Michi.

Lodgic[link]

Billy Sherwood's music career started when he joined a band formed by Michael. Called Lodgic, Billy played bass and sung while Michael played keyboards and sang back up. Lodgic also included Guy Allison on keyboards, Jimmy Haun on guitar and Gary Starns on drums. They eventually moved the band to Los Angeles in 1980. After many years of trying to get things together, they recorded their debut album Nomadic Sands, released in 1985.

World Trade[link]

Lodgic eventually broke up, and Billy Sherwood put together a new band with Guy Allison. They recruited guitarist Bruce Gowdy and drummer Mark T. Williams to form World Trade. They recorded their self-titled debut in 1989, with Sherwood taking on the roles of engineer, mixer, and producer again, along with his band duties as bassist and lead singer.

Yes and other projects[link]

Then, Sherwood and Gowdy were asked to come and jam with Chris Squire, Alan White, and Tony Kaye of Yes. Singer Jon Anderson and guitarist Trevor Rabin had left the band and the idea was for Sherwood and Gowdy to replace them in the band. Rabin returned to the band, but demos were recorded by a line-up of Squire, White, Kaye, Rabin and Sherwood. However, Yes were to merge with Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and Sherwood was relegated to the role of side musician, appearing on one track of the subsequent album Union. Like Trevor Horn before him, Sherwood was uncomfortable with the idea of replacing Anderson as the front man of Yes, but he struck up a friendship with Squire that would lead to work with him throughout the next 20 years.

During the hiatus of Yes, Squire put together the Chris Squire Experiment, having Sherwood as the lead singer while playing some guitar and keyboards. Sherwood then went on to record a project called The Key with guitarist Marty Walsh, though they would not release the album until 1997.

Behind the board, Sherwood worked with Motörhead, Dangerous Toys, and Paul Rodgers (formerly of Bad Company) as producer and engineer. Sherwood also guested on Toto's Kingdom of Desire album, singing and playing bass. He also produced a couple of tribute albums, including Jeffology, a tribute to Jeff Beck. Sherwood then joined Yes on tour as an additional musician, playing guitar and keyboards for their tour in support of Talk.

Sherwood got back together with his band mates from World Trade and released Euphoria in 1995, with Jay Schellen replacing Williams on drums. After this, he worked with a multitude of artists. Most of his work was as producer, mixer and engineer, including on more tribute albums: Dragon Attack, a tribute to Queen; Salute to AC/DC; and Crossfire, a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Sherwood would co-produce, engineer and mix the new studio tracks for Yes's Keys to Ascension and Keys to Ascension 2 albums. Sherwood started work on a third album by World Trade, but the band would fall apart. He would later use much of that material as his debut solo album The Big Peace,^{[citation needed]} released in 1999.

After the two Keys to Ascension albums, Rick Wakeman left Yes. Sherwood's friendship with Chris Squire would then lead him being asked to join the band again. The material that they had written together was used as the basis of what would become Open Your Eyes, released in 1997 by Yes. Sherwood played guitar and keyboards. Igor Khoroshev would join the band before the tour as the keyboardist leaving Sherwood to playing guitar and supplying backing vocals.

After returning from the tour, Sherwood and Yes returned to the studio to record The Ladder. During this time too, Sherwood and Squire started putting the finishing touches on their album Conspiracy, largely based on the Chris Squire Experiment material, which was released while Yes was on tour in support of The Ladder in 2000. Billy also took time to perform on his brother Michael's album Tangletown, released in 1999.

Yes recorded a show during The Ladder tour in Sherwood's hometown of Las Vegas at the House of Blues. This was released as an album and DVD titled House of Yes. Then after the tour, an announcement came that Sherwood was no longer a member of Yes.

Recent career[link]

After his departure from Yes, Sherwood worked with Chris Squire to release Conspiracy, including some work they composed together some years before. Following that, Sherwood composed his first solo album called The Big Peace in which he played most of all the instruments and also produced. The album was a sort of back to basis of his progressive roots.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Sherwood released another album with Chris Squire, the project becoming known as Conspiracy. The album was titled The Unknown.

More recently, Sherwood has been working on further tribute albums, notably Back Against the Wall and Return to the Dark Side of the Moon, tributes to Pink Floyd's The Wall and The Dark Side of the Moon respectively. The latter includes a new track recorded with Tony Kaye.

In 2007, a new band with Sherwood, Alan White, Tony Kaye and Jimmy Haun was announced, called Circa. With the release of their debut album Circa 2007 and a live DVD concert, Circa has played various live dates. White left the band and was replaced by Jay Schellen.

Sherwood is also credited for writing the theme song for the online anime series, Kung Fu Jimmy Chow.^[1]

In August 2008, Billy Sherwood's released his third solo album, At the Speed of Life, for which he received an award that year as the best Progressive Rock Producer.^{[citation needed]}

On January 14, 2009, Circa self-released on the Internet its second studio album, Circa HQ. This time, White was not available due to his commitments with Yes (who had begun a new tour). Sherwood's long time friend, collaborator and drummer, Jay Schellen, replaced White on the album. After a short international tour, Sherwood and co. started another project with former Toto singer, Bobby Kimball. Kimball, Sherwood, Tony Kaye and Jimmy Haun formed new band, Yoso, with a debut studio album in April 2009. Haun later abandoned the line-up (in order to focus on his work for adverts). He was replaced by Yes tribute band guitarist, Johnny Bruhns. Schellen chose to focus on his work in Asia Featuring John Payne and, after a number of other drummers, the band toured with Scott Connor on drums. Yoso then disbanded. Sherwood also released his fourth solo album, Oneirology.

In 2011, CIRCA: returned with a new line-up of Sherwood, Kaye, Bruhns and Connor, while Sherwood released his fifth solo album, What was the Question?.

Equipment[link]

Sherwood mainly plays Carvin guitars, 6- and 12-string; his main guitar, which he's played since Yes, is a red Carvin, Telecaster-shaped, with a Roland V-guitar pickup. His acoustic guitars are made by Babicz. He uses Line 6 amplifiers with 4x12" cabinets.^[2]

Discography[link]

[edit] With World Trade

• World Trade (1989)
• Euphoria (1995)

[edit] With Lodgic

• Nomadic Sands (1985)

[edit] With Yes

• Open Your Eyes (1997)
• The Ladder (1999)
• House of Yes: Live from House of Blues (2000)

[edit] With Conspiracy

• Conspiracy (2000)
• The Unknown (2003)

[edit] With Circa

• Circa 2007 (2007)
• Circa Live (2009, + DVD 2008)
• Circa HQ (2009)
• Overflow (2009)
• And So On (2011)

[edit] With Yoso

• Elements (2010)

Solo Albums[link]

• The Big Peace (1999)
• No Comment (2003)
• At the Speed of Life (2008)
• Oneirology (2010)
• What Was the Question? (2011)

Other Appearances[link]

• Yes - Union (1991)
• Toto - Kingdom of Desire (1992)
• Air Supply - The Vanishing Race (1993)
• Paul Rodgers: Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters (1993)
• Various Artists - Supper's Ready (1995)
• Various Artists - The Moon Revisited (1995)
• Various Artists - Tales From Yesterday (1995)
• Air Supply - News from Nowhere (1995)
• Various Artists - Crossfire: A Salute To Stevie Ray Vaughan (1996)
• Various Artists - Dragon Attack-A Tribute To Queen (1997)
• The Key - The World is Watching (1997)
• Treason - Treason (1997)
• Ratt - Collage (1997)
• Various Artists - Thunderbolt-A Tribute To AC/DC
• Michael Sherwood - Tangletown (1998)
• Jack Russell - For You (2002)
• Todd Rundgren - Todd Rundgren And His Friends (2002)
• Various Artists - Pigs & Pyramids-An All Star Lineup Performing The Songs Of Pink Floyd (2002)
• Ignition - Ignition (2003)
• Various Artists - Bat Head Soup-A Tribute To Ozzy Osbourne (2003)
• Asia - Silent Nation (2004)
• John 5 - Vertigo (2004)
• Various Artists - Back Against The Wall (2005)
• Various Artists - Return To The Dark Side Of The Moon (2006)
• Various Artists - An '80s Metal Tribute To Journey (2006)
• Various Artists - Lights Out: The Ultimate Tribute To UFO (2006)
• Various Artists - An All-Star Tribute To Lynyrd Skynyrd (2007)
• Various Artists - Led Box: The Ultimate Tribute To Led Zeppelin (2008)
• Graham Russell - The Future (2007)
• Various Artists - 70's Box: The Sound Of A Decade (2007)
• Various Artists - Big Movies, Big Music Volume 1 (2008)
• Various Artists - Big Networks, Big Music Volume 2 (2008)
• Various Artists - Big Networks, Big Music Volume 9 (2008)
• Various Artists - Ultimate Holiday Party Volume 1 (2008)
• Various Artists - Ultimate Christmas Party Volume 2 (2008)
• Various Artists - Ultimate Christmas Party Volume 3 (2008)
• Various Artists - A Tribute To Thin Lizzy (2008)
• Various Artists - Abbey Road: A Tribute To The Beatles' (2009)
• Various Artists - An All-Star Salute to Christmas (2010)
• Nigel Briggs - Unwind (2010)
• Edison's Lab - Edison's Lab (TBR in 2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• BillySherwood.com – official website
• Billy Sherwood on Myspace
• Billy Sherwood discography
• Fan news page
• French Website

Josh Resnick is an American video game producer. He was the co-founder and President of the now defunct game developer Pandemic Studios. Pandemic Studios and its sister company, Bioware was purchased by Electronic Arts in 2008 for $620 Million. After Pandemics game, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames received bad reviews and poor sales, Electronic Arts shut down the company. ^[1]

Before founding Pandemic, Resnick spent four years at Activision^[2] as a Producer. His credits there include Mechwarrior 2 1995, which sold over 1 million copies worldwide, and Dark Reign (1997), a successful RTS game. Resnick also led the Strategy division of Activision's product development department, which produced Battlezone (1998).

Resnick earned his M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1993,^[3] and his B.A. from Pomona College in 1989.^[4]

References[link]

This biographical article relating to a video game specialist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Luke John Summerfield (born 6 December 1987) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Cheltenham Town.

He began his career with Plymouth Argyle, following in the footsteps of his father, Kevin, who played for the club in the 1980s and later managed the team. He scored six goals in 91 appearances for Plymouth and also spent time on loan with Bournemouth and Leyton Orient respectively.

Biography[link]

Summerfield was born in Plymouth and was a student at Ivybridge Community College. He signed a professional contract with Plymouth Argyle, before the start of the 2005–06 season. He made two appearances in his first two seasons for Argyle (both as a substitute), once in the league and once in the League Cup. Summerfield made his debut for Argyle, as a substitute, on 8 May 2005, against Leicester. On his first start for Argyle, against Colchester United in the Football League Championship, on 8 August 2006, during the 2006–07 campaign, Summerfield scored with a 25 yard bullet after 29 minutes.

Although son of former Shrewsbury Town, West Bromwich Albion, Birmingham City, Plymouth Argyle and England youth international player Kevin Summerfield, many Argyle fans cite Luke Summerfield's playing style as more like Steve McCall than father Kevin. This owes largely to Summerfield's extremely accurate and broad range of passing, and tendency to dominate matches from centre midfield by linking up play.

At the early stage of his career, Summerfield was touted for an England U-19 call, and it was widely held that Summerfield was being tracked by a host of Premier League clubs, a notion further enhanced after spending a week on trial with champions Chelsea, along with then teammate Dan Gosling, in March 2007. In November 2006, journalist Tony Rees placed Summerfield in the Football League's '7 Deadly Winners' article, citing him as a "rookie with a fine touch, and a Premiership look", with a price valuation of £1.5m, in a list which included then teammate Luke McCormick, who was valued at £2m.^[1] In January 2007, Summerfield was listed as number 5 in The Guardian's ten best prospects to watch out for in 2007, an article researched and compiled by James Dart, Tom Lutz and Paolo Bandini.^[2]

Former Plymouth Argyle manager Ian Holloway has commented on Summerfield, "I see Luke doing things far beyond his tender years. The boy has a fine touch, he is typical of the talent that Plymouth will produce for the future."^{[citation needed]} On 20 March 2007, Summerfield signed a loan deal with League One side AFC Bournemouth, until the end of the season. On 25 September 2009, Summerfield moved to League One side Leyton Orient on a one-month loan,^[3] which was later extended to three months, before he returned to Plymouth on 19 December.

On 4 August 2011, Summerfield signed a one-year contract with Cheltenham Town, having spent time with the club on trial.^[4]

Career statistics[link]

(correct as of 7 May 2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Luke Summerfield player profile at pafc.co.uk
• Luke Summerfield career stats at Soccerbase