Difference between Root Cert, Intermediate Cert and SSL Cert

I would be willing to bet that you don't have to send the root CA for this to actually work. It doesn't make sense and, as you pointed out earlier, would completely invalidate the intent of PKI.

There are certainly exceptions to this rule based on the types of clients and/or services involved in evaluating these certificates, but a core function of The PKI trust establishment process is validating the chain of certificates up to a self-signed "anchor" - a root certificate that has been explicitly trusted by the client and/or server.