i am mainly wondering if there is a fixed amount of electricity that the earth can ground? (the max)?

Question

i am asking this because every wiring diagram or even electrical project uses the earth as the ground. so i am trying to see if there is a point where the amount of electricity we are grounding into the earth either causes an issue or where the ground fails. "cows sense stray voltage"

Answer 1

From an electrical point of view, the earth is just a conductor, like a wire. If you understand voltage, you would know it is a difference in potential. It is meaningless to say a point is 3 volts. It is 3 volts relative to something. The earth is everywhere and is a conductor, so it is convenient to call that a reference (so it is 0 volts). It is a misconception that electricity returns to the earth. It does not; it returns to the source (a circuit is a loop).

Now to confuse things, ground is also a term that is used to mean a reference, without actually meaning the earth. When you say every wiring diagram or project uses the earth, that isn't true. If you looked at a schematic of a computer for example, the processor has a connection to a positive DC power supply and to ground. This isn't the earth. The board of the computer has a wiring plane that is connected to the positive power and another that is called ground, which is connected to the negative of the power supply.

The ground in the computer, which has nothing to do with the earth, is probably connected to the ground prong on the electrical plug. There are 3 connections on that plug, loosely called hot, neutral, and ground. That ground is for safely, and again that function really has nothing to do with the earth. That ground is connected to the neutral at the electrical service. The neutral at the electrical service is connected to the earth, because if it weren't, the actual voltage of your neutral and metal things in your house (via the ground outlet pin), would be unpredictable.

About the cow comment. Cattle and some other animals are very sensitive to small voltages that we cannot sense. Again, the earth is a conductor. When current flows through any conductor, it creates a voltage drop dependant on the resistance. The national electrical code requires bonding (electrical connection with wires) where cattle would be so there won't be voltage for them to feel. Basically it is wire with lower resistance to carry any current with a much smaller voltage drop. There are similar requirements for swimming pools and the like, since wet skin is much more sensitive to voltage than dry skin.

Answer 2

No sarcasm or word-play: the earth is an infinite source of ground. Your answer is no.

Oh, re-read. You mean is there a fixed amount of voltage earth can handle within a specified area? Yes. I dont know more than that. We had a downed (hanging) power line for over a day that everytime it hit the earth I could feel the vibration from the hum on my floor. The power company gave the excuse that our grid had nursing homes and they couldnt turn off the power to our grid. After I called and told them if some dude came home from travelling out of town and didnt know and got zapped when he stepped out of his car...they had people out within 2 hours. So...must be.