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
Electricity is motion of electrons. Electrons urge to move is a result of what’s called a Potential Difference. The source of the PD can be due to a moving magnetic field or simply an over-crowding of free electrons in one area with access to another area that has less electron density.
The reason the Earth makes such a good neutral ground is because relative to everything else it has effectively infinite room to accept electrons so there’s *almost* always a PD in Earth’s direction. Bodies of water absolutely could be used as a ground. Boats don’t use the water to ground out for engineering reasons (cost of wire, safety, increased corrosion).
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