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No, the main reason is so that an internal short will go to ground.

No, it will still do that even if the two wires are reversed. The purpose of polarization is to allow things like switches to be connected to the correct wire, so that when "off", there is no hazardous voltage present in the product beyond the switch. And etc..

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Your chandelier example is a fine example of this. The chandelier was designed so that the neutral connector was connected to the metal body of the chandelier. This is required by electrical code (or some other law -- who


No, neither the hot nor the neutral should ever be connected to the body of any fixture. That's what the third "earth ground" is for.

-ml