[Amps] A Meeting Ground

[StephenTetorka at cs.com]

Hi Bill:

This 'net result' is my point.
And this net result cornucopia goes into and out of all those individual circuit loops.

Amazes me.

Guess that's why I choose Civil over EE...

Regards,
Steve


Bill Turner <dezrat1242 at ispwest.com> wrote:

>On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 12:25:06 -0500, StephenTetorka at cs.com wrote:
>
>>This radiant discussion on parasitics invites me to ask a question: "where does all the 'mish-mash' go to when a chassis ground is employed?"
>>
>>Signals and voltages that are DC, AC and RF are all permitted to happily co-join and intermix - and to be politically correct, regardless of gender (positive or negative cycle) -  on this conducting element.
>>
>>The fact that one chassis 'ground' can easily be a potential different from another 'ground' is an issue for another occasion.
>
>_________________________________________________________
>
>The simple answer is, the voltage and current at a point (or more
>correctly, between two points) is the vector sum of all the signals
>present.  They don't really "go" anywhere, they just add and subtract
>from each other, including phase angles, to give a single net result.
>
>I prefer not to use the word "ground", since it implies something that
>may not be present, i.e., a connection to the earth.  Instead, the
>word "common" is more accurate, meaning a point which is common to all
>circuits.
>
>Your last sentence about a potential difference between "grounds" is
>worth noting.  When the potential difference causes coupling into or
>between circuits, you have a "ground loop", something usually to be
>avoided.
>
>--
>Bill W6WRT
>
>