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One thing I learned from reading some stuff on an electician forum years ago is that the actual ground is really not that attractive to household electricity, m
by joveian 4y ago
One thing I learned from reading some stuff on an electician forum years ago is that the actual ground is really not that attractive to household electricity, mostly just to lightning. I recall them mentioning a video of, IIRC, someone connecting a 15A circuit to a metal stake driven several feet into the ground without the circuit breaking. This is also why things like stray voltage shocking cows can happen. I'm guessing that this might potentially be part of why electric shocks aren't deadly more often, it may not be just a path to ground needed but a path through ground and back into the circuit (although the current needed to kill you is much less than tripping a breaker and I think there are various situations that can make it easy for that amount to flow into the ground even if there isn't a good path back to the circuit, which sometimes there is, so possibly this isn't really a factor).
- TimTheTinker 4y ago> the actual ground is really not that attractive to household electricity, mostly just to lightning I assume that's because it doesn't form a complete circuit with the electrical substation your power is coming from -- though some power is delivered, perhaps does due to capacitance between the ground and the distribution lines. Note it would be completely different if your power service used single-wire earth return (SWER)[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-wire_earth_return https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-wire_earth_return
- mindslight 4y agoThe circuit is not back to the substation, but rather your local transformer. There is likely a grounding rod at the pole the transformer is on, and one grounding rod at each of the premises served by the transformer. It's just that resistance of the earth, especially dry earth, is quite high compared to wires.