The white wire is loosely connected or not connected somewhere between where you are testing and the source. The first place I would look is a loose screw on the white conductor in the panel.
It depends on the color coding standards for what country you are in. In the US, the answer is no. The Neutral (white wire) is grounded at the service entrance to the building. The black wire should have roughly the same voltage to the neutral and to the ground. Something to be aware of: If you are using a meter and checking for continuity between the black wire and ground, it may tell you that they have continuity if the breaker is on.
To answer this question fully the type of appliance has to be stated and its voltage.
You don't say "turn off" or turn on". Light should be connected black to black and white to white and ground to ground. If you connect white to ground it will work, but you are then using the ground wire for an unintended purpose. Neutral is bonded to Ground at the panel. Current on ground wire could cause ground loops and may cause GFCI to trip if you have them in your house.
You will have to check to make sure. Normally, with 4 wires, the black and red are both power for 220. White for neutral and bare for ground. If you are only using one leg of it, you would use the black, white, bare ones and cap the red one. Someone may have used the 4 strand because they had it or 220 was planned but not done or both the red and black are hot. You should be able to tell in the panel. Do the red and black both connect to separate breakers or to one or is the red not connected?
It seems like you are describing the Red, Black, White and Ground in your electric panel. There is 240 VAC between Black and Red and 120 VAC between Black and White and 120 VAC between Red and White. The electric panel has two busses that supply 120 VAC on alternating breakers in your panel. Essentially, the Red turns into "black" in the panel for all practical purposes. If you have a 240 VAC circuit it essentially takes up to two vertical positions in your electric panel.
Answer for USA, Canada and countries running a 60 Hertz supply service.A test meter across black and ground in a 120/240 split phase system should read about 120 volts. Note, however, that ground is not the correct reference point; neutral is the correct reference point, and the meter should be connected across black and white, or red and white, or red and black. This is because the ground connection is a protective earth ground, not intended to carry current. Since ground and neutral are tied together at the distribution panel, you might expect them to have no potential difference, but impedance in the conductors will result in a voltage drop across neutral, biasing the voltage seen between hot and ground, as opposed to hot and neutral.
No.
It depends on the color coding standards for what country you are in. In the US, the answer is no. The Neutral (white wire) is grounded at the service entrance to the building. The black wire should have roughly the same voltage to the neutral and to the ground. Something to be aware of: If you are using a meter and checking for continuity between the black wire and ground, it may tell you that they have continuity if the breaker is on.
To answer this question fully the type of appliance has to be stated and its voltage.
You don't say "turn off" or turn on". Light should be connected black to black and white to white and ground to ground. If you connect white to ground it will work, but you are then using the ground wire for an unintended purpose. Neutral is bonded to Ground at the panel. Current on ground wire could cause ground loops and may cause GFCI to trip if you have them in your house.
No, the white should be approximately zero and the black approximately 110-120, assuming the "bare ground" refers to a bare conductor attached to electrical ground.
from salt white to coal black
The bald-faced hornet is a black and white hornet that you can find hovering close to the ground. These hornets are common across the United States.
If you are connecting 120 volts, you connect the black wire to the breaker, white wire to the neutral bar, and ground wire to the ground bar. If you are connecting 240 volts connect the black & white wires to the breaker, & ground wire to the ground bar.
It is very rare to have three-phase electricity coming into a residence. One of the wires is probably the neutral (It will be white or black with white stripes.) The ground comes in from a ground rod near the main, and connects to the ground coming from the meter, AND (If the main fuse box is the first disconnecting means,) the neutral and ground bars have to be bonded together in the box.
"Why are you black and white?" is barely ever a question to ask on the Internet. I am not black and white, so I can't answer your question. i am not trying to be racist so dont flip out on me but asians are black and white
Only ground