=> When I connect one side of a lamp to the positive terminal of a battery (or one pin of an electricity outlet in my house), and I connect the other side of the lamp to a grounded rod, will the lamp light up? Why (not)?
I know that one of electricity's basic rules is:
In order for current to flow, you need a closed circuit (so electrons can flow from one side to the other).
So my gut feeling says no, but then again I made this reflection that bothers me:
they say earth attracts electrons. For example: when I touch a static charged object (or an AC live wire, 1 phase), current will flow through my body to earth, right?
In this case there's isn't really a closed circuit, is there? (I'm only toughing 1 phase).
So why shouldn't the lamp light up??
Thanks for sharing your reflections
2007-06-22 02:59:29 · 7 answers · asked by BXL 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
If you connect one contact of your lamp to an outlet and the other one to a grounded rod it will light up. One of the terminals in an outlet is connected to ground anyway. Power plants use the earth as the second conductor. The electricity flows to your house trough wires and it flows back through the earth. That way they need to build less high voltage lines. But you still have a closed circuit.
If you connect one contact of your lamp to the positive terminal of a battery and the other one to ground then the lamp will not light up because the circuit is not closed. If however you also connect the negative terminal of the battery to ground then the circuit is closed and the lamp lights up.
2007-06-22 03:12:51 · answer #1 · answered by Voice of Insanity 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. You just need to earth-ground the other battery terminal too. To complete the circuit, the electrons must leave one battery terminal, and re-enter the other. For that, the electrons must follow a conducting return path. The earth is great for that because, below a few feet, it's generally moist.
Try this experiment (really!). Hammer two metal rods or pipes into the ground as far apart as you like. Make sure it's at least a few feet deep if it hasn't rained in a while. String a single wire between one terminal of a battery to an light bulb of an appropriate voltage rating, Attach the other end of the battery and light bulb to their respective rods. The bulb will indeed light.
If you want to try this with household current, you can attach either the neutral or the gound wire to the rod. They are usually both grounded at your circuit panel. The hot wire goes to the distance bulb, then. Don't use the hot wire on the ground rod; you'll blow the circuit. I suggest sticking with a battery if you can't figure out why from what I just said.
2007-06-22 10:33:40 · answer #2 · answered by Dr. R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The hole space between the positive line of the lamp when is connected to the battery & the ground rod make the electrons not uniform to complete the electrical circuit,so the lamp is not light up.
2007-06-22 11:56:41 · answer #3 · answered by Jameel S 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thats a really good question. Electrical ground has its name because the ground (the Earth) is used as the reference point for power generated by power plants. The reason is voltage is just a measurement of the difference in potential from one point to another. The same thing as elevation is measured as a difference in from sea level to a given point, voltage is measured from the difference of the voltage on the surface of the Earth to whatever point is being measured.
To answer your question directly, I think that yes, you could in fact use the Earth as a ground for a lamp. The reason being is that the Earth is the same reference point to electrical provider is using as ground.
2007-06-22 10:14:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nikloai Tesla successfully demonstrated that you could run electric current through the ground to provide power. One of his most popular demonstration involved placing series of light bulbs directly into the ground and lighting them.
This demonstration is presented in the movie, The Prestige, with Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and David Bowie as Tesla. Although much of what goes on in the movie is fiction, the light bulb scene is based on actual events.
2007-06-22 10:09:36 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think that the earth is simply too big. Any accumulation of electrons will be dispersed throughout the Earth.
2007-06-22 10:04:22 · answer #6 · answered by weeezin da juice 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
when you atach one wire to a ground you interupt the circuit, earth is ground. in iother owrds the electricity stops flowing, it needs to flow through
2007-06-22 10:03:38 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋