Here's what I'm asking: if the electricity flows from the hot wire to device X, then to the neutral wire which ultimately carries the signal to ground/earth at the panel then how does electricity "get back to" hot? Like, what "bridges the gap" between ground at the end of the circuit and hot at the beginning of the circuit?
Electrical – How is the alternating current in your home a complete circuit
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Best Answer
The gap is bridged by the power company driving the current through your wires.
You can think of it as a remote generator pushing the current through your house, but in actuality there are several transformers isolating the current between generation and your house. So the current itself recirculates at the transformer near your house, and that current is driven by current in the transformer's primary coils.
If all is working properly (and nominally), there is no current to earth. That connection is there only to guarantee that each loop—including your house current loop—never has a potential voltage to ground greater than 120 volts. If a loop were not grounded, that portion could conceivably float to any voltage through static effects or other processes.