What's the diff between Grounding and Earthing ?

[MAXPAYNE]

Can u tell me What's the difference between Grounding and Earthing ? Are they same? 

[abbas1707]

Actually current is nothing its simply flow of charges.earthing is a wire which is common to all the points in a circuit used to complete the circuit, it is compulsory .while grounding is used to pass leakage of charges to the ground ,it is used for safety measure but not compulsory.

[SONSiVRi]

Can u tell me What's the difference between Grounding and Earthing ? Are they same? 

from "computer terms" dictionary;
Earth Ground
A wire conductor that terminates in the earth for electrical purposes. It is generally the negative side of the circuit and is most important in alternating current (AC) circuits. Chassis Ground is the general term used in direct current (DC) circuits.

It seems earthing is coming from AC, as you know there is huge plate at power station buried underground to complete electrical flow. I think thats why we use earth for it. Btw this misunderstood between earthing and ground may about your language (and my also). English isn't my native language.

[Vague]

I live in the Uk. Generally speaking grounding and earthing are the same thing. In the UK  metal cases are connected to an earth wire which is usually connected at the substation or sometimes outside the house to a copper rod buried in the earth. This is where the terms arise, but usually it just means the common point usually negative in an electronic circuit, but you have to be careful with things like opamp dual power supplies where it would be the centre point.It is not a term used much nowadays except for talking about AC supplies.

[otter]

Earthing usually means a protective wire from metal case of something to a physical copper rod in the ground, whereas grounding often means joining to the local 0Volts of system under discussion ( which may or may not be joined to Ground). BUT these two terms do get interchanged, so it is usually safer to inquire which definition is being used.

[ppa88]

Agree with you V.I.P. The term GROUND is mostly used to mean the reference point in a circuit with respect to which other voltages are measured. GROUND  can be even "VIRTUAL" (eg. in an inverting opamp circuit), but EARTHING is always "PHYSICAL" and is a real connection between a circuit and the physical earth done mostly for protection purpose.

[zero]

Hi people!

On AC power earth could be distinguish in two terms that is protectif earth and service earth. The first is used to protect people against accidental leakage of current on equipment.
the second like the name says is used for the function of the equipment.
About ground is mostly used on DC System  and could be real or virtual for example analising a circuit.

Best regards for all

[mylogin]

As in  previous reply,  Grounding (GND) is a common reference point for a system,  Earthing is a physical connection to the earth-ground.    It could be a negative-ground system, postive-ground system, ..etc., any voltage can be used as a ground-reference if you choose it as a reference.   

Since Gound for each system is diff.  for two automobile each one has its own ground, both works well. but if you connect the two car with jumper-cable you have to be careful since two ground system might not at the voltage-level. (postive ,negative, static charge induced..etc)  this the same for most of the electronics systems too.     The Earthing is to force all ground system into a common reference again by using our earth.  (that is the reason you have the small pig-tail from chassis to connect to earth line of the AC plug.)

There are problems with test equipment using the switching power supply from AC line which does not have isolation transformer, the chassis ground and signal ground could be connected, or  not connected, and your system to be tested might have diff. gound. config.  so be careful of this Grounding , Earthing
thing.

[sohel]

look at ur side what pollibuddut work on it . every electric piller have one grounding or earthing. useless topics

[mylogin]

Grounding and Earthing is also a big topic in the field of EMC, safety regulation, UL ,...etc.,  It is also a big task in terms of electronics product manufacturing engineering,  especially for anything using AC power.
if you look at the PCB board and chassis of your electronics product you will find a lot of strange PCB trace design, capacitors, ...etc., in between the signal ground plan and chassis ground.  also if your country has two wire AC line system(like Japan, Taiwan..) instead of 3 wire AC line system(with one earth ground line) you will find it become more complicated. where is the earth ground pin of your computer AC plug goes?

[SONSiVRi]

As I know about AC power, earth pin is burried under of your apartment and minus pin (not phase) is burried under power station.

[Stefkeb]

Hi,

At the power station (I mean where power is generated) both minus pin and earth pin are actually the same pin !

Usually you can measure a small voltage between grounding earth (which is indeed buried under you home/apartment) and the minus pin in the power-outlet.

Rgds,

Stef.

[MAXPAYNE]

Ok , I have got my answer and cleared the confusion in my mind. Thnks to all of u...

[etgpsp]

Ground means negative pole of voltage in the DC circuit and earthing means connecting the chassis of the electrical equipment to the earth wire to reduce hazard of electrical shock and also commone nose.

[bxac]

Many times I've seen refrigerators giving an electrical shock when touching them. Is this a sign that there is a problem? It is a current leakage, but why? The circuit should be isolated from the case. Could be because of the condensation?

[MAXPAYNE]

Many times I've seen refrigerators giving an electrical shock when touching them. Is this a sign that there is a problem? It is a current leakage, but why? The circuit should be isolated from the case. Could be because of the condensation?

U r shocked because uor refregerator are not properly earthed, the 3rd terminal......

[Stefkeb]

Maxpayne's answer is probably the case, another possibility is:

You probably have been touching the fridge with one hand and was holding a watertap or central heating system with the other hand.

In the situations like above you where actually builing a ground-loop with your body !

You were feeling the difference in potential by two "earth systems", the one from the power net on one hand and the one from the watertap or central heating on the other hand. In cases where your fridge is defective (ground wire broken and power connected to the housing by some reason) situations as described above can be leathal !!

Rgds,

Stef.

[Vague]

It might be because the fridge is earthed and if you have built up a static charge on your body which is then earthed when you touch the fridge.  An easy way to check is to touch the fridge twice in quick succession, if you dont get a shock the second time then it is caused by static electricity.

[orange]

Grounding and Earthing?
Grounding or Earthing is the same meaning.
In U.k. they use the word earth rather than ground.
In U.S.A. they use the word ground rather than earth.

[zero]

Hi people !
About the current leakage on the fridge you must pay attention if your instalation is correct . You are sure that your home instalation have a correct earth circuit, and a good circuit breaker for person protection?
I tell you this because if your fridge have a defect insulation you must be protected with a differential circuit breaker.

best regards by ZERO.

[donno]

In Australia, Residual Current Devices (RCD's) are mandatory for all electrical intallations, to simplify how these work...both Active and Neutral incoming conductors are monitored by a device, any mis-balance (between 10 and 30 milliamp's) on either conductor will cause the device to trip (switch mains off)
The essential life saving part of this circuit is the EARTH wire (green/yellow) which is routed to every socket outlet or lighting point and must form a solid connection to any exposed metals ie; appliance case,shield or jacket.
At the power box end, the EARTH is bonded to incoming copper water main and or a copper stake driven into the ground, connected to the NEUTRAL as part of a MEN (Main Earth and Neutral) system. This system ensures that any leakage current whether from faulty appliances, accidental or deliberate contact with an active conductor will result in power shutdown. Any mis-balance from either Active or Neutral will shut down power if it is greater than the specified trip current of between 10 to 30 milliamperes.

Terminology:

Earth - A Direct connection to protective ground, ie: the copper water pipe which should be bonded to your fridge, hot plates and appliances.
Ground - A connection or terminal which is common to 0 volts...generally on DC systems would be the negative terminal or conductor.
Negative - 0 volts in DC systems or return from Positive.
Positive (or HOT) Any conductor or terminal measuring higher than negative (0 volts) on DC systems.
Active - Any conductor or terminal measuring above Neutral or Earth in AC systems.
Neutral - Any conductor or terminal used to return from Active in AC systems.


A bit long winded but I hope this can help!

[looser]

bxac
If you feel the electrical shock on the refrigerator it is the indication of a leakage for sure.       ( Whatever the reason)
But straight wayto get rid of it is grounding.  The reason you feel it there is no good grounding from the body of refrigerator to earth. When you touch, if your feet makes a better path than the grounding supposed to transfer the electricity to earth you will know it!!!

regards