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Discussion » Questions » Education » More about electricity: What happens to all the electrons that go to the gound?
CallMeIshmael

More about electricity: What happens to all the electrons that go to the gound?

All electrical circuits have to have a ground or someplace for the electrons to go after they've done their job.  Can the ground ever be so full of electrons that no circuit can be grounded by it again?  Doesn't having all these loose electrons in the ground affect the chemistry of the engine block, soil etc.? Or something?

Posted - July 5, 2019
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Responses


  • 6988
    Rule #1 of physics is that no energy is ever lost, it only changes into another form of energy. 
      July 5, 2019 5:34 PM MDT
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  • 44620
    HUH? Not all circuits are grounded.
      July 5, 2019 5:44 PM MDT
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  • 3523
    Maybe I misspoke, but they must flow toward a ground, downhill, right?  Either to a positive pole or an engine block as in DC in your car or to the literal ground as in a house.  In those two examples, what becomes of the electrons?  Do they eventually fill, say the engine block, with electrons so that it becomes negatively charged and can't accept any more?  And what effect does all those electrons have on the ground, the engine block in this case?  What are we doing to the earth by dumping all our used electrons under"ground?"  I just don't get it.  I never did.
    . This post was edited by CallMeIshmael at July 5, 2019 7:30 PM MDT
      July 5, 2019 7:28 PM MDT
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  • 4624

    The number of negatively charged atoms and molecules in the ground is so great that the positively charged energy (electricity) is dispersed and neutralised.
      July 5, 2019 10:13 PM MDT
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  • 4624

    The number of negatively charged atoms and molecules in the ground is so great that the positively charged energy (electricity) is dispersed and neutralised.
      July 5, 2019 10:16 PM MDT
    0