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In the United States, if the outlet is polarized (one slot is larger than the other), the smaller slot is the positive, or hot, assuming it is wired correctly.
Another PerspectiveThe above answer is correct in that there is a "hot" and a "neutral", but technically, if you are asking about true polarity, there is no positive and no negative in a housing or commercial outlet.Utility power service is referred to as "alternating current", meaning that the true polarity of an outlet reverses 60 times per second, with one side temporarily being positive and the other negative.
If you are trying to use "direct current", you will need to use some kind of diode or rectifier to change the alternating current to direct current.
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