ELECTRICAL GROUNDING - THEORY AND APPLICATION

The concept of an electrical ground is pivotal to the application of all electrical circuits. In our teaching of this concept, we discuss grounding from both a theoretical and practical perspective. Practical knowledge is gained from real-life case studies on the subject. (1) A factory-based grounding plane in a large factory experiences ground looping. This is blamed for a serious accident. Our tests started with a true earth ground and concluded with a mapping of the entire factory, machine-by-machine and outlet by outlet to verify the results of ground looping in a well-constructed electrical environment. (2) A patient is being prepared for major surgery. He needs to be grounded. He is acting as an antenna for many stray signals. Also, static charge is building up on him. The result is a washing out of the data on the medical machines monitoring his physical condition. (3) Even though it is always said that a good ground is necessary for electrical safety, there are 2 cases that we report where floating a circuit (i.e. not grounding it to the earth) is the best and safest case.