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Earthing means connecting the dead part (the part which does not carries current under
normal condition) to the earth. For example electrical equipments frames, enclosures,
supports etc. The purpose of earthing is to minimize risk of receiving an electric shock if
touching metal parts when a fault is present.
Earth or Ground is for safety concerns against leakage or residual currents on the
system via least resistance path. While phase and neutral is connected to main
power wiring, earth may be connected to body of equipment or to any system
which in normal condition doesnt carry current but in case of some insulation
failure, is supposed to carry some minor current. This current is not directly
coming from live or phase wire, but is from secondary links which was not in
touch with live system in normal condition. This current is usually much lesser
than main line current or phase current and mostly is in order of mA. But this
leakage current is good enough to kill someone or may risk fire. Such current are
being provided a low resistance path and sent to earth via earth wire.
Because of the difference in application we never mix grounding of neutral and
earth. However both are made grounded (of-course the process may be different).
If both will be mixed then the earth wire which is not supposed to carry any current
in normal condition , may have some charges across and will become hazardous
earth is used for grounding unbalance current. In balance condition no current flow
in earth Where as Earth is a Point to discharge any leakage current to ground.
The purpose of grounding is the protections of power system equipment and to provide
an
effective return path from the machine to the power source. For example grounding of
neutral
point of a star connected transformer.
It is the process of connecting Electrical equipment or appliances to earth through a
low resistance ( usually 1 ohm ) wire , which protect human beings from getting
shock.we can see the earth wire in our house also.
Note: ground wire is different from the above. Most of us are in misconception that
ground wire is used for Electrical grounding.
Ground wire is the top most conductor in the transmission line which protects the
transmission lines from the lightning strokes.
Solid grounding
the neutral is the common connection of all the circuits in your electrical distribution
panel. It is tied to ground inside the panel. While the ground has a special purpose and
that is for electrical safety and to prevent an electric shock when touching your
electric appliances. If the hot wire accidentally touches the metal body of your
appliance it will just trip the circuit breaker so it cuts off the power for that appliance.
Earthing means connecting the dead part (it means the part which does
not carries current under normal condition) to the earth for example electrical
equipments frames, enclosures, supports etc.
Grounding means connecting the live part (it means the part which
carries current under normal condition) to the earth for example neutral of
power transformer. It is done for the protections of power system equipment
and to provide an effective return path from the machine to the power source.
A Ground represents an electrical path, normally designed to carry fault current when a
insulation breakdown occurs within electrical equipment
Neutral
Neutral is return path for an AC circuit which is supposed to carry current in normal
condition. This
current may be because of many reasons, primarily because of phase current imbalance
and some
time because 3rd and 5th harmonics also. There may be others reasons too but the
magnitude of this current is in fraction of phase current and in few case it can be
even double of phase current. So Neutral wire is always assumed to be charged
(in active circuit). This neutral wire is given to ground (by grounding) to make the
second terminal of neutral wire at zero potential. Neutral is a circuit conductor that
normally carries current back to the source, and is connected to ground (earth) at
the main electrical panel.
In the electrical trade, the conductor of a 2-wire circuit connected to the supply
neutral point and earth ground is referred to as the "neutral". [1]
In a polyphase (usually three-phase) AC system, the neutral conductor is intended
to have similar voltages to each of the other circuit conductors, but may carry very
little current if the phases are balanced.
The United States' National Electrical Code and Canadian electrical code only
define neutral as the grounded, not the polyphase common connection. In North
American use, the polyphase definition is used in less formal language but not in
official specifications. In the United Kingdom the Institution of Engineering and
Technology defines a neutral conductor as one connected to the supply system
neutral point, which includes both these uses.
All neutral wires of the same earthed (grounded) electrical system should have the
same electrical potential, because they are all connected through the system
ground. Neutral conductors are usually insulated for the same voltage as the line
conductors, with interesting exceptions
Neutral is the reverse current path. neutral provide a complete path.............
Neutral is a path to complete the circuit for Flow of current.
load current flows through neutral, but in normal operation, no load current will
ever flow through earth.
From generation point earth and neutral has a common point.
One can use the same conductor as neutral and earth but not at the same
connection. Neutral can be grounded but earth itself is a ground path to flow the
abnormal current in the circuit.
Neutral point is basically a reference point it may be at any potential difference. i.e. 5V,
10V, 1000V etc.
NEUTRAL IS ALSO
CONNECTED TO EARTH(GROUND). IN OUR HOME, EVEN IF NEUTRAL IS
CUT, WE COULD USE OUR HOUSEHOLD EQUIPMENTS CONNECTING TO
EARTH.
Circuitry[edit]
Neutral wires are usually connected at a neutral bus within panelboards or
switchboards, and are "bonded" to earth ground at either the electrical service
entrance, or at transformers within the system. For electrical installations
with split-phase (three-wire single-phase service), the neutral point of the system is
at the center-tap on the secondary side of the service transformer. For larger
electrical installations, such as those with polyphase service, the neutral point is
usually at the common connection on the secondary side of delta/wye connected
transformers. Other arrangements of polyphase transformers may result in no
neutral point, and no neutral conductors.
Grounding systems[edit]
Main article: Grounding system
The IEC standard (IEC 60364) codifies methods of installing neutral and ground
conductors in a building, where these earthing systems are designated with letter
symbols. The letter symbols are common in countries using IEC standards, but
North American practices rarely refer to the IEC symbols. The differences are that
the conductors may be separate over their entire run from equipment to earth
ground, or may be combined over all or part of their length. Different systems are
used to minimize the voltage difference between neutral and local earth ground.
Current flowing in a grounding conductor will produce a voltage drop along the
conductor, and grounding systems seek to ensure this voltage does not reach unsafe
levels.
In the TN-S system, separate neutral and protective earth conductors are installed
between the equipment and the source of supply (generator or electric utility
transformer). Normal circuit currents flow only in the neutral, and the protective
earth conductor bonds all equipment cases to earth to intercept any leakage current
due to insulation failure. The neutral conductor is connected to earth at the building
point of supply, but no common path to ground exists for circuit current and the
protective conductor.
In the TN-C system, a common conductor provides both the neutral and protective
grounding. The neutral conductor is connected to earth ground at the point of
supply, and equipment cases are connected to the neutral. The danger exists that a
broken neutral connection will allow all the equipment cases to rise to a dangerous
voltage if any leakage or insulation fault exists in any equipment. This can be
mitigated with special cables but the cost is then higher.
In the TN-C-S system, each piece of electrical equipment has both a protective
ground connection to its case, and a neutral connection. These are all brought back
to some common point in the building system, and a common connection is then
made from that point back to the source of supply and to the earth.
In a TT system, no lengthy common protective ground conductor is used, instead
each article of electrical equipment (or building distribution system) has its own
connection to earth ground.
Shared neutral[edit]
A shared neutral is a connection in which a plurality of circuits use the same
neutral connection. This is also known as a common neutral, and the circuits and
neutral together are sometimes referred to as an Edison circuit.
Three-phase circuits[edit]
In a three-phase circuit, a neutral is shared between all three phases. Commonly the
system neutral is connected to the star point on the feeding transformer. This is the
reason that the secondary side of most three-phase distribution transformers is wye
or star wound. Three-phase transformers and their associated neutrals are usually
found in industrial distribution environments.
A system could be made entirely ungrounded. In this case a fault between one
phase and ground would not cause any significant current. In fact, this is not a
good scheme. Commonly the neutral is grounded (earthed) through a bond
between the neutral bar and the earth bar. It is common on larger systems to
monitor any current flowing through the neutral-to-earth link and use this as the
basis for neutral fault protection.
The connection between neutral and earth allows any phase-to-earth fault to
develop enough current flow to "trip" the circuit overcurrent protection device. In
some jurisdictions, calculations are required to ensure the fault loop impedance is
low enough so that fault current will trip the protection (In Australia, this is
referred to in AS3000:2007 Fault loop impedance calculation). This may limit the
length of a branch circuit.
In the case of two phases sharing one neutral, the worst-case current draw is one
side has zero load and the other has full load, or when both sides have full load.
The latter case results in 1 + 1@120deg = 1@60deg, i.e. the magnitude of the
current in the neutral equals that of the other two wires.
In a three-phase linear circuit with three identical resistive or reactive loads, the
neutral carries no current. The neutral carries current if the loads on each phase are
not identical. In some jurisdictions, the neutral is allowed to be reduced in size if
no unbalanced current flow is expected. If the neutral is smaller than the phase
conductors, it can be overloaded if a large unbalanced load occurs.
The current drawn by non-linear loads, such as fluorescent & HID lighting and
electronic equipment containing switching power supplies, often
contains harmonics. Triplen harmonic currents (odd multiples of the third
harmonic) are additive, resulting in more current in the shared neutral conductor
than in any of the phase conductors. In the absolute worst case, the current in the
shared neutral conductor can be triple that in each phase conductor. Some
jurisdictions prohibit the use of shared neutral conductors when feeding single-
phase loads from a three-phase source; others require that the neutral conductor be
substantially larger than the phase conductors. It is good practice to use four-pole
circuit breakers (as opposed to the standard three-pole) where the fourth pole is the
neutral phase, and is hence protected against overcurrent on the neutral conductor.
Split phase[edit]
Main article: Split-phase electric power
In split-phase wiring, for example, a duplex receptacle in a North American
kitchen, devices may be connected with a cable that has three conductors, in
addition to ground. The three conductors are usually coloured red, black, and
white. The white serves as a common neutral, while the red and black each feed,
separately, the top and bottom hot sides of the receptacle. Typically such
receptacles are supplied from two circuit breakers in which the handles of two
poles are tied together for a common trip. If two large appliances are used at once,
current passes through both and the neutral only carries the difference in current.
The advantage is that only three wires are required to serve these loads, instead of
four. If one kitchen appliance overloads the circuit, the other side of the duplex
receptacle will be shut off as well. This is called a multiwire branch circuit.
Common trip is required when the connected load uses more than one phase
simultaneously. The common trip prevents overloading of the shared neutral if one
device draws more than rated current.
what would happen if in a three conductor system(single phase) we interchange neutral and earth?
Neutral is provided to complete electrical circuits in the case of single phase
requirements. Earth is being provided for safety and to permit flow of fault currents in
the case of earth faults. If earth is not provided, current based earth fault protections
will not work. During normal operation, neutral conductor is the part of main
electrical circuit whereas earth conductor remains isolated.
3. Grounding
3.1 Introduction
Grounding means connecting the live part (it means the part which carries current under
normal condition) to the earth. For example neutral of power transformer. Grounding
provides a path to the fault current, So that we can minimize the damage. In an isolated
grounding system (
without grounding ) whenever a fault occurs in the power system then the fault current
will be severe.
Types of grounding
1.solid grounding ( direct connection to ground)
1. To Provide the path for the fault current.and also limits the fault current.
2. To place the earth relay.
3. To protect the system.
The neutral wire is used in the circuit of the appliance. It is the loop back to the panel
that allows the hot wire to do its work. Completing the circle.
The ground is there to prevent you from being shocked by a faulty appliance by
tripping the breaker.
Ultimately they both go to ground, but the true ground wire and not the neutral is there
to shunt the amps so you don't have to through your body.
Earth is a basin of infinite positive charge and infinite negative charge.. and hence
it is neutral
Ground: the most misunderstood and misused word in the engineer's lexicon.
In the beginning (as far as radio and electronics is concerned) there was the electric
telegraph.
The key controlled the current through the line and therefore through the
electromagnet.
The system at first used two wires but it was quickly realised that one of them
could be replaced by using the Earth as one conductor.
An essential part of radio is an antenna and an essential part of early antennas was
a connection to the Earth.
You will have noticed (wont you?) that both times I mentioned Earth I also used
the definite article. Yes; the planet on which we live.
The ubiquitous, misunderstood and frequently misused ground had not yet made
its potentially lethal way into our technical jargon.
Which was most unfortunate. It is much less evocative than the original, genuine,
accept-no-other, Earth.
My use of the upper case E should by now have served the purpose of drawing
attention to something of paramount importance, so I shall now drop it in
deference to convention.
Use of the word earth, or the less satisfactory ground, was, as long as radios and
other items were mains powered, quite unambiguous. The chassis of most, if not
all, older radios were connected to earth. Furthermore it was and still is common
practice for one side (or pole) of the receivers power supply to be connected to its
chassis and therefore to earth.
With the advent of portable battery operated radios (and the development of ferrite
rod antennas) the earth connection, at least on those receivers, disappeared. The
old habit of referring to the receivers chassis as earth or ground didnt.
As a not too successful palliative, the expressions earth ground and chassis
ground were introduced. And there ended synonymity.
What a ridiculous situation. If you need to say "earth ground" or "chassis ground"
- and you DO need to in order to convey what you really mean, then why not drop
the silly and confusing "ground" and simply say "earth" or "chassis" and, if
necessary, say whether or not the chassis is, or should be, earthed.
So common is the use of the word "ground" - it tumbles out of peoples mouths like
a ritual - without stating what is meant, that I suspect that it is either taught or
simply copied from other people who are imprecise with their terminology. In the
former case the teachers need their heads banging together.
We even have people talking about the 'positive of a battery and its "ground".
Stupid, unthinking, and totally wrong and misleading.
Even more unfortunate is the fact that most people who use ground dont bother
to state which ground they mean, if, indeed, they understand the difference
anyway (and I'm quite sure that many of them don't). Its just part of the jargon
which people use unthinkingly.
Unthinkingly. Yes, very much so. I well remember in one of Racals technical
handbooks, one pertaining to an airborne radio, that a certain pin on one of its
connectors was the earth pin. Earth? In an aircraft? Just how sloppy/stupid can
people be?
What, and why, would you call "ground" in any of these 7 pictures?
There is equal confusion between the diagrammatic representations of earth and
chassis. The former being grouped horizontal lines whose lengths diminish from
top to bottom. The latter is one horizontal line with short diagonal lines hanging
from beneath it. Check out the very earliest circuit diagrams of radios.
I will sometimes, but not always, use the chassis symbol in a diagram. In many
cases it is simply not necessary.
Some people dont understand this, so ingrained is their habit of using ground or
earth. But I stick to my guns. I would rather someone ask than indulge them in
their common and imprecise jargon.
One of the problems is that people are taught by other people who know no
difference (or better) and it is not until much later that they might encounter
someone who deliberately or otherwise challenges their cherished beliefs.
I can not and will not accept fatuous arguments supporting something because "lots
of people have done it like this for a long time." All that does is preserve and
propogate myths and misunderstandings.
Old habits, particularly bad ones, die hard. It is nigh on impossible to get someone
to even contemplate that they just might be wrong.
ground: a potential wrt which every other potential in the circuit is measured. that
potential need not to be 0.
earthing: to connect a point of the circuit to ground literally to ensure zero
potential in it.
neutral: potential zero. basically equal to earth potential. Ground is basically
reference point in any circuit. Like a battery's cathode is called as ground as all the
voltages are measured wrt this point. Any of the point in a circuit can be taken as a
reference...
When this ground is connected to earth then it is known as earthing..
Hope you get the point....
Ground is a source for unwanted currents and also as a return path for
main current some times. While earthing is done not for return path but only
for protection of delicate equipments.
Neutral and ground are the same in house wiring. But they're treated differently in other
places.
In electronic circuits, ground (GND) is usually defined as the point of zero potential. It
become the
reference point for other voltages on your circuit board, which may be either positive or
negative
relative to GND.
On a bench supply, you'll often see +, -, and Ground/Earth labels. When you set a voltage
on your bench
supply, that's a difference between the + and - terminals.
Earthing Neutral
It is used to protect human body from In case of 1 phase AC system, neutral
leakage current due to short circuit in acts as a
equipments, mal function or crack in return path to flowing current in any
insulation. electrical circuit.
is = V volts,
and current value is = I amp
The Fluke 1625 earth ground tester is able to measure earth ground loop resistances for
multi grounded systems using only current clamps. With this test method, two clamps
are placed around the earth ground rod or the connecting cable and each are connected
to the tester. A known voltage is induced by one clamp, and the current is measured
using the second clamp. The tester automatically determines the ground loop
resistance at this ground rod.
Ideally a ground should be of zero ohms resistance.
There is not one standard ground resistance threshold that is recognized by all
agencies.
However, the NFPA and IEEE have recommended a ground resistance value of 5.0
ohms or less.
The NEC has stated to Make sure that system impedance to ground is less than 25
ohms specified in NEC 250.56. In facilities with sensitive equipment it should be 5.0
ohms or less.
The Telecommunications industry has often used 5.0 ohms or less as their value for
grounding and bonding.
The goal in ground resistance is to achieve the lowest ground resistance value possible
that makes sense economically and physically.
OR
OR
In a simple way,
1)Neutral is used as the reverse path for the phase currents to complete the circuit in
A.C. systems.
Neutral is used to close the ckt. with phase voltage and earthing is used to collect leakage
voltage from the body and release it to the ground for human safety.
Neutral is the point at which all the three phases current meets and the algebraic sum of
current becomes zero in case of balanced load condition. Neutral is usually grounded
with some resistance in series in case of equipment protections like generator and
transformer protections. While earthing is the "dead zero point" in electrical
system. I.e zero potential point or reference potential.
Neutral and Ground are attached to the same point inside the breaker box.
This is because metal devices attached to a grounded outlet have their chassis attached to
the Ground terminal, and if any current flowed through Ground in normal operation,
the ground wire could have some voltage on it.
If there were a short of the Hot or some intermediate point to the metal chassis on a
device, with the chassis grounded, the fault current flows to Ground rather than
bringing the metal chassis up to some dangerous voltage.
GFCI also called GFI outlets and breakers look for any imbalance in the Hot and
Neutral current. So if you miswired an outlet so Ground and Neutral were reversed,
the GFCI would keep kicking the outlet off.
At one location, the breaker box where power enters the building, the neutral is connected
to the earth.
Even for most of the time, neutral and earth has ZERO volt
between them; they should never be connected together or be
used interchangeably.
Is This Answer Correct ? 39 Yes 4 No
Answer / W. Vijay
Neutral:- It is return path conductor.
Earthing:-It is the connection of the conductor to the
general mass of the earth.
Mr. T has a wrong weighing pan. One arm is lengthier than other. 1 kilogram on left
balances 8 melons on right, 1 kilogram on right balances 2 melons on left. If all
melons are equal in weight, what is the weight of a single melon.
Sol:
Let additional weight on left arm be x.
Weight of melon be m
x + 1 = 8 x m - - - - - - (1)
x + 2 x m = 1 - - - - - - (2)
Solving 1 & 2 we get.
Weight of a single Melon = 200 gm.
Purposes of Earthing
There is no major difference between earthing and Grounding, both means Connecting
an electrical circuit or device to the Earth. Even though there is a micro difference
between grounding and earthing:
Grounding Earthing
Definition Grounding Earthing
means means
connecting the connecting t
live part (it he dead part
means the part (it means the
which carries part
current under which does
normal not
condition) to carries curre
the earth for nt under
example normal
neutral of condition) to
power theearth for e
transformer. xample
electrical
equipments
frames,
enclosures,
supports etc .
Difference in Terminology Grounding is Earthing is
the commonly used in
word used for European,
earthing in the Commonwea
North lth countries
American and Britain
standards like standards
IEEE,NEC, like IS and
ANSI. IEC etc.
Purpose Grounding The purpose
refers the of earthing is
current to minimize
carrying part the risk of
of the system receiving an
such as neutral electric
(of the shock
transformer or if touching
generator). metal parts
when a fault
is present.
Generally gr
een wire is
used for this
as a
nomenclatur
e.
Balancing the Load Vs Safety Ground is a Earthing is
source for done not for
unwanted returnpath
currents and but only for
also as a return protection of
path for main delicate equi
current pments. It is
sometimes. analternate l
ow
resistance
path for
current.
When we take While
out the neutral earthing is
for a used
three phase un between the
balanced equipment
connection and earth pit
and send so as to
it to ground, it avoid
is called electrical
grounding. shock and
Grounding is equipment d
done to amage.
balance
unbalanced
load.
Equipment Protection Vs Human Safety Because of Earthing is
lightening, line to ensure
surges or safety or
unintentional Protection of
contact with electrical
other high equipment
voltage lines, and Human
dangerously by
high voltages discharging
can develop in the electrical
the electrical energy to the
distribution earth.
system wires. Earthing is a
Grounding preventive
provides a measure.
safe, alternate
path around
the electrical
system of
your house
thus minimizin
g damage from
such
occurrences. It
is just a return
path.
Example Grounding of Earthing of
neutral point electrical
of a star equipments
connected frames,
transformer. enclosures,
supports etc.
Fig. 1: A typical earthing electrode (left of gray conduit) at a home in Australia. Note
the green and yellow marked earth wire.Electrical circuits may be connected to
ground (earth) for several reasons. In power circuits, a connection to ground is done
for safety purposes to protect people from the effects of faulty insulation on
electrically powered equipment. A connection to ground helps limit the voltage built
up between power circuits and the earth, protecting circuit insulation from damage
due to excessive voltage. Connections to ground may be used to limit the build-up of
static electricity when handling flammable products or when repairing electronic
devices. In some types of telegraph and power transmission circuits, the earth itself
can be used as one conductor of the circuit, saving the cost of installing a separate run
of wire as a return conductor. For measurement purposes, the Earth serves as a
(reasonably) constant potential reference against which other potentials can be
measured. An electrical ground system should have an appropriate current-carrying
capability in order to serve as an adequate zero-voltage reference level. In electronic
circuit theory, a 'ground' is usually idealized as an infinite source or sink for charge,
which can absorb an unlimited amount of current without changing its potential.
The use of the term ground (or earth) is so common in electrical and electronics
applications that circuits vehicles such as ships, aircraft, and spacecraft may be spoken
of as having a "ground" connection without any actual connection to the Earth.
In electrical engineering, earthing or grounding means literally to make an electrical
connection between the ground and a metal part. In practice this is usually done by
connecting to the ground pin of an electrical socket, which is itself connected to
ground. In permanent installations it can also be done by wiring to a piece of
grounded metal, most often a water pipe.
The main reason for doing this is safety. If a live wire touches a metal part such as the
casing of a washing machine, it will become "live" or "hot". If you were to touch it
you would get an electric shock. By grounding the metal part, if a live wire touches it
the current will flow through the metal part to the ground. This will usually cause a
fuse to blow or a circuit breaker to trip, thereby isolating the supply and protecting the
user.
Despite what a previous answerer said, the ground is not part of the circuit of the
electrical supply to your house. A separate conductor, the neutral, serves that purpose.
Current only flows into the ground during a fault condition like the one I described
above.
In electronics, the term ground is often used to mean a part of the circuit which has
zero volts on it, and may be used as a return path for electric currents in the circuit
and/or a screen against electromagnetic interference. For instance, an electronic
engineer may say that a part of the circuit is "at 5 volts above ground".
Earthing is done for making the extra charge or current to flow in the ground(earth), after
earthing any point the potential(voltage) at that point became zero. The whole of the
world may be considered as a vast conductor which is at reference (zero) potential. In
the UK we refer to this as 'earth' whilst in the USA it is called 'ground'. People are
usually more or less in contact with earth, so if other parts which are open to touch
become charged at a different voltage from earth a shock hazard exists. The process of
earthing is to connect all these parts which could become charged to the general mass
of earth, to provide a path for fault currents and to hold the parts as close as possible
to earth potential. In simple theory this will prevent a potential difference between
earth and earthed parts, as well as permitting the flow of fault current which will cause
the operation of the protective systems.
The standard method of tying the electrical supply system to earth is to make a direct
connection between the two. This is usually carried out at the supply transformer,
where the neutral conductor (often the star point of a three-phase supply) is connected
to earth using an earth electrode or the metal sheath and armouring of a buried cable.
Lightning conductor systems must be bonded to the installation earth with a conductor
no larger in cross-sectional area than that of the earthing conductor.
The advantages of earthing
The practice of earthing is widespread, but not all countries in the world use it.
There is certainly a high cost involved, so there must be some advantages. In fact
there are two. They are:
1. The whole electrical system is tied to the potential of the general mass of earth and
cannot 'float' at another potential. For example, we can be fairly certain that the
neutral of our supply is at, or near, zero volts (earth potential) and that the phase
conductors of our standard supply differ from earth by 240 volts.
2. By connecting earth to metalwork not intended to carry current (an extraneous
conductive part or a an exposed conductive part) by using a protective conductor, a
path is provided for fault current which can be detected and, if necessary, broken.
The disadvantages of earthing
The two important disadvantages are:
1. Cost: the provision of a complete system of protective conductors, earth electrodes,
etc. is very expensive.
2. Possible safety hazard: It has been argued that complete isolation from earth will
prevent shock due to indirect contact because there is no path for the shock current to
return to the circuit if the supply earth connection is not made This approach,
however, ignores the presence of earth leakage resistance (due to imperfect insulation)
and phase-to-earth capacitance (the insulation behaves as a dielectric). In many
situations the combined impedance due to insulation resistance and earth capacitive
reactance is low enough to allow a significant shock current
Danger in an unearthed system
a) apparent safety: no obvious path for shock current
b) actual danger: shock current via stray resistance and capacitance
A lightning bolt strikes the ground (and is grounded or earthed). A power station's electric
generator is connected to distribution lines that feed your house (through
transformers). Both the generator and your house wiring must be grounded to
complete the circuit. The generator pulls electrons from the ground and pushes them
to your house (almost like a water pump pumps water) and after passing through your
light bulb, etc. the electrons are pushed into the ground under your house and flow
back toward the generator. No individual electrons make the complete trip and for AC
power the electrons flow back and forth (push pull push pull, etc.). The chassis of a
radio, etc. is connected to ground through the un-energized wire in the power cord (as
opposed to the live wire). Various items within the radio circuit are connected to the
chassis to provide a ground (path for electron flow). Ships at sea may use a floating
ground system where ground wires are used to complete circuits back to generators to
avoid electron flow though the steel hull that may induce corrosion. Airplanes also
would use ground wires rather than use the skin of the craft.
In electronics, the term ground is often used to mean a part of the circuit which has
zero volts on it, and may be used as a return path for electric currents in the circuit
and/or a screen against electromagnetic interference. For instance, an electronic
engineer may say that a part of the circuit is "at 5 volts above ground".