Some additional questions I have to further understanding:
Ships don’t have ground, but why couldn’t electricity on a ship ground to the ocean the same way houses ground to the earth?
A structure will have a grounding rod dug into the earth. Does the dirt, soil, and rock composition that the structure is built on affect how willing current is to use the path?
In: 77
If we had a thin wire of earth it would be a very poor conductor. But we don’t, we have a big old lump of earth and the current can spread out wide and far to really low current densities and absorb ridiculous amounts of electricity (where does the lightning go?).
The weak link is the connection with the ground and that’s why they bury the ground into earth, for serious grounding applications this can involve quite a bit effort to ensure a good connection with the earth. And not having a good earth connection can and does cause problems.
Latest Answers