earthing conductor

Question

I'm studying the subject Electrical Safety in Engineering and a special term really drew my attention. When I tried to google it, no any option was suggested but Protective conductors.

In the presentation slide, the definition of the term is explained in a such way.

**Earthing conductor: A protective conductor connecting the main earthing terminal of an installation to an earth electrode or to other means of earthing (e.g. TN systems);

Could anyone explain the exact meaning of the term Earthing conductor?

As the description you quoted points out, its just the conductor (cable) that connects the "earthing terminal of an installation to an earth electrode or to other means of earthing"!? Its does not refer to a special kind of conductor, just a good one (thick copper wire /low resistance). — Rev, Aug 26 '18 at 15:56
Related: [Why is earth used for ground?](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/145240/why-is-earth-used-for-ground-literally-earth) — Dmitry Grigoryev, Aug 27 '18 at 14:04

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 26 '18 at 16:32

In electronics, we call anything that is defined as the 0V reference as "ground" to be shared by a circuit, regardless of whether it is floating or "earth-bonded". This "earth" goes to the network and your home, to your outlets and the equipment which uses it.

However, this "Protective Conductor" term is used for the power grid network in many places and with different specifications how it is implemented.

The earth-connection generally serves 2 purposes, a drain for EMI and a safety wire for appliances, residential and grid power in case of faults or lightning.

Depending on the network, there are different ways to connecting "ground = 0V" of a system to an earth terminal.

TT system