Power is generated at the powerstation, gets sent through cables to our house, through wires into my microwave. My microwave has a fault so the current goes down the earth wire into the ground but then where? Where is the ground connected backup to this circuit to complete the link and allow the current to flow??
In: Physics
In Australian homes, we have both earth stakes and Main Earth Neutral links (MEN). When your microwave faults to earth, it travels along the earth wires in your home and back to your MEN link where it rejoins with the neutral wire back at the main switchboard, completing the circuit. It’s connected in a way so that your RCD’s will still trip.
An alternate path for the current is through the earth stake. Here is where things get a little strange. Because the earth is so big (im talking our literal planet), it can act as both an anode, a cathode and a standard neutral line. In other words, some current goes out to earth and just stays there. Some gets attracted by another, MUCH bigger earth stake out at the substation. And some goes straight to the aformentioned stake.
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