Electrical Fundamentals

[RothEnterprise]

Hi Mike,

I have watched your electrical fundamentals video, and it was very eye opening. Especially the part where you say that the earth is not a ground, and that if you touch a loose wire in your home, the current does not go into the ground through you, but instead goes into the ground in order to loop back to the source in the electrical box. This raises a few questions from me:

1. Why does it go back "home" to the box? Shouldn't it go back home to the power plant where it was generated?

2. If the home for some reason does not have a ground rod which connects to the electrical box, if you touch a loose wire, does that mean you will not get electricuted, because the current does not have a path through the ground rod through to the source?

3. If relation to stray voltage in cows in the countryside, if the electricity is put into the ground somewhere and it travels back to its home in the power plant, what makes it detour up, through, and back out of the cow?

Thanks, Adam

 

[charlie b]

• First of all, Mike Holt owns and runs this forum. But he seldom participates, being far too busy. For example, his daily email count is in the hundreds, if not thousands.
• Secondly, forum rules do not allow us to assist persons who are not members of the electrical industry. I know you are not (yet, anyway) asking for advice on performing your own electrical installation work. But that brings me to,
• Third, we are not here to provide an education to persons who will not be using that education to further their careers within the electrical industry. So you are going to have to find another source to answer your questions on electrical fundamentals.
• That said, I am closing this thread.