I know that electricity doesn’t just dissolve in the ground, it must return to the power source. But once the electricity is in the grounding device, how does it find its way back to the substation if it can be relatively far away?
Edit: I know ground isn’t used in normal working mode and where I live there’s no grounding in sockets.
In: 469
A lot of these answers seem to be trying to explain what electricity is, but to answer your question simply: if there’s a fault to earth, it will indeed flow back to the source (upstream transformer) through the earth.
Getting slightly technical, and this depends on how the transmission system is set up, some of the fault goes back along the static/shield wire, if it’s continuous along the transmission line. In analysis, this would be the split factor.
When designing grounding systems, you want a low impedance to remote earth and fast clearing times in order to reduce the step/touch potentials in fault conditions. This is done typically with an adequate ground grid and the use of copper rods that are driven into the earth. In a residential setting, this is why you should find a copper rod driven into the ground near your electric meter/where the electricity comes out of the house.
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