Earth and Ground

is this electrical terminology? or English?

in electrical terminology

The term 'Earth' is used in the UK and elsewhere that UK practices have been adopted in English-speaking countries.

The term 'Ground' is used on the North American continent and elsewhere that North American practices have been adopted in English-speaking countries.

Earthing/grounding practice varies slightly from country to country. The terms are interchangeable and mean practically the same thing: bonding accessible metal parts to the body of the Earth so as to provide a safe point for stray electrical currents in the event of a fault with the equipment so as to minimise the risk of electric shock to persons and animals.

Hi, Guest!

A ground is one side of an electrical supply that allows the flow of electrons to exit its source. With no ground, the electricity cannot move away from its source and and cannot do any work.

In the case of a vehicle with lots of metal (e.g. an automobile or a ship), the power is run from a source, through a resistance (meaning how it is utilized, like a motor or light bulb), and into the metal body. The metal body is large enough to absorb most of the extra electron flow and transmit it to the earth through the air, water, or other fluid in which it is situated.

Because the transmission of electrons through fluid encourages rust to form on the large metal body, the transmission is sometimes routed through a 'sacrificial anode'...a piece of metal lower on the galvanic response scale...so that the sacrificial anode does the rusting instead of the metal body to which it is attached as the electrons flow through the anode and then through the ambient fluid to the earth.

The body is called a ground, the practice is called 'grounding', and it is so-called because it imitates the quality of the planetary surface of our planet to absorb an electron flow, which makes the earth the largest of all grounds.

Grounding is also the descriptive word used when the electricity follows any path to the earth or any other ground. If the grounding is very light, or caused accidentally, it is called a 'ground fault', and can sometimes inhibit a full electricity flow through the circuit. People who are electrocuted accidentally have unintentionally provided a path to a ground or to the earth for electricity from the source to follow; so for example wall outlets have been designed that open immediately if the tiniest overload through them caused by a ground fault is detected to prevent accidental electrocution.

In household wiring, all the wires that will eventually run to the ground are gathered together first, as 'neutral' wires, then connected to a single ground, usually the earth either at the house or at a power station's choice of locations.

The earth or 'earth' you are speaking of is the planet you are standing on. The earth is the mother of all grounds. Since it is huge and the moisture in its surface enhances electricity flow, a conductive stake driven into it will act as the perfect exit for the flowing electrons in an electrical circuit. Sometimes water pipes are used to ground circuits as they eventually connect through the earth to their underground sources.

That is why in some countries, the words 'earth' and 'earthing' are sometimes interchangeable with the words 'ground' and 'grounding'. If a ground is not found by using the earth, a large metal source will usually do.

Mark

Hi Mark... there are many errors in your post. You might want to read up a bit.

Hi, North of 60!

Thanks for letting me know about the errors. It might be helpful to the OP if you went through the mistakes in my post and corrected them for him, keeping the information as simple as possible, of course.

My intent in writing the post was to clearly illustrate the meanings of the words so as to differentiate between earth and ground, not to teach a lesson in basic electricity.

Mark