Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [earth]

183 questions
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Why on earth are o-scopes earth referenced?

Thinking about it: You would never find a "Grounded" multimeter as robust and useful if a path to ground through the multimeter were introduced, modifying the circuit's behaviour and possibly damaging the multimeter with currents. Why are so many…
Transient
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Why is main's neutral tied to earth?

My dad is an Electrician and I myself am an Electronics Design Engineer, and to this day he still hasn't been able to give me a good reason for this. Consider the two following pictures/situations - both the same case, but with neutral not tied to…
DSWG
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Why don't we use neutral wire for to ground devices and earth wire for closing the circuit?

I know that the neutral point of a distribution transformer is connected to the grounding (earthing) wire, so I think they are the same. Can I use the neutral wire for protecting metal-cased electric devices by connecting it to the case (cover)? Can…
Michael George
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"Ground" vs. "Earth" vs. common vs. negative terminal

This may just be me not having a degree in electrical engineering or electronics, but the whole notion of "ground" and "earth", when used in electrical circuit diagrams (especially integrated circuits), is extremely confusing. I guess the whole…
jrista
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Why is earth used for ground? Literally earth?

I never considered earth to be particularly conductive. It's just dirt, after all. However, I've seen "earth ground" conductive stakes driven into the ground in order for electricity to be grounded, because it will find its way down there. However,…
user3916009
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Static shocks all over the building

I just came from the local library, it’s quite big, and most of it is made of an architectural design using mostly painted metal book shelves painted with some kind of anticorrosive paint along with glass floor all over the place, everything was…
GoatZero
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What is the right way to float a home lab?

I just got myself some new toys for my lab at home like 30V DC power supply, KKmoon signal generator and a Rigol DS1052E. I want to float everything, because I don't want to spend any money on stuff like differential probes or isolation…
Asians never die
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Is ground connection in home electrical system really necessary?

I know that the answer to my question is "Yes, it is!". The ground connection is needed to avoid a person touching a metallic part of faulty equipment to be electrically shocked. So the person acts as the conductor closing the circuit between the…
PauerEightySix
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How to stop plastic granules sticking to the iron wall of their silo?

In our factory, we have some large (8 meters tall and 3 meters in diameters) iron silos for storing the plastic compounding material. Every time the silos are getting unloaded from the granules, the plastic powders stick to the inner metal layer due…
Farzin Karimi
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Ground Symbol, which one I should use?

I normally use this symbol in my schematic as my signal ground. But recently my manager asked me to use this symbol instead because the one that I am using is the earth ground and I should use the signal ground instead. I checked the IEC 60417…
user3562851
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Why is chassis connected to earth ground but not neutral?

My question arose from my previous questions. Here depicts how electricity is distributed to houses:http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/feed_1phase.gif It seems like the earth ground and neutral are connected at the end. If so why we not…
user16307
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Why is earth pin absent in phone chargers plugs but present in laptop ac plugs?

Both mobile phones and laptop get dc voltage from ac source for charging.These chargers have transformer for isolation and rectifier + filter if i am not wrong.I guess the amount of output dc and charging current may vary. Why do modern mobile…
Gopi
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Are countries that use 2-pin plugs less safe than countries that use 3-pin plugs given that the earth is missing?

Will there be occasions when using 2-pin plugs is safer than 3-pin plugs? Is it accurate to say that 3-pin plugs are always safer given the presence of earth?
user768421
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USB peripheral: connecting USB shield to GND?

I have read through many recommendations articles, and many StackExchange questions, but haven't come up with any clear understanding as there are many conflicting information out there. The simple question is, should a USB shield be connected to…
Marek
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How many "grounds" are there and what is the difference?

I stumbled upon many terms for ground, naturally as newbie I got very confused. ground earth chassis ground earth ground common ground signal ground Are there any more? I assume some are for AC and some for DC. What is the difference?
komrad2236
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