eli5: ground vs negative terminal. are they the same thing?

Question

are they the words for the same thing? When we say ‘connect to ground’ does that mean the same as connect it to the negative terminal of the battery?

Or do we connect a ground pin TO the negative terminal of a battery. Such that if we have multiple devices, and we connect them to the same ground pin, all the current can sink into the negative terminal of the battery? As it should?

MAINLY IN REGARDS TO ARDUINOS.

In: 1

Answer 1

Not necessarily but, by convention, generally yes. Ground is nothing more than a baseline reference for all the voltages on a circuit. You start with whatever voltage your power source provides and call negative to the 0V pole and positive to +24V (or whatever) pole. Ground is always 0V so ground, negative and 0V all mean the same.