>i get it, the black wire is just the stored energy like a balloon blown up or water in a hose or a suspended weight, waiting for a way to release all of that pent up energy by getting to the back to transformer, and the white wire is made to be a very easy way to get there as opposed to going through me with more resistance then back into the white wire to the transformer.
You probably get it. But that energy is released all along the trip. Most of it is consumed the the load (light, fan, motor, etc.).


>but the wave hill thing is not working for me too well yet.
I think I can help you a little with that.

The sine wave merely means the the black side varies between pushing really hard, pulling really hard, and everything in between.

>the sine wave is just a representation of the presence of current or voltage?
Voltage. But if flowing, current flows in proportion to voltage, so for a simple resistive load like a lamp, the current also has the same wave.

>if the top is hot and the bottom is neutral compared to the hot where the hot side is being pushed and the neutral side is being pulled then it doesnt seem like it would ever change whether there was a fan load or not in the middle. maybe i have this pictured wrong.
[Linked Image] I think so. Perhaps if you just forget about the pulling half for a while it will help.

>it just seems like what goes out and back on these wires would balance out
And indeed it does. Completely.

>and look the same with the equal amounts on top and below, going and coming.
Yes.

>so this means like i said, i hope, that the black wire current still travels on the white wire because it wants to go back to the transformer that way, but its not like its really going that one direction from the black to the white, because you said that it alternates, as in a.c. alternating current.

This is tough for me. The black is the source of the push and the pull. Both do useful work.

>how come there could be more current on the black wire when it is alternating back and forth from the source through the black wire and load and white wire
There can't be.


>and to the transformer which is where it came from to begin with i assume.
Correct.

>some how it seems that it should be equal on both the white and black since it alternates,
Good. Because you got that much right.

> there was more current on the black wire because after going through the fan there wasnt as much current remaining to come out on the white wire.
You just need some different words.
There is less power. And since the current on the white wire already has a good girlfriend (the white wire), it barely looks at you.

The potential current on the black wire is available and looking and desperate (sorry!).