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edit approved Feb 7, 2022 at 19:43

George Lee

It depends on the Capacitance and salts so it will spread like tree roots.
- It diffuses rapidly so you would not likely feel lightning in water 100m away because of the volume of water relative to you. Similar for soil (ask an Earth Scientist how they model it, or I can show you). But if you would a long conductor above the ground, a mile away, you could feel a zing.

It diffuses rapidly so you would not likely feel lightning in water 100m away because of the volume of water relative to you. Similar for soil (ask an Earth Scientist how they model it, or I can show you). But if you would have a long conductor above the ground, a mile away, you could feel a zing.

That would be a fault condition. Split-phase (or "out of phase") is neutral grounded at source. If isolated ,it it would still pose a differential fault.

chargeCharge is neutralized locally due to leakage resistance but given lightning strokes every second on average around the globe, it's only meaningful locally to change attractions to clouds momentarily. But with trans-Atlantic signals, there are considerable voltage differences and currents flowing.
- at the end of the day, we universally define "ground" as 0V only where it is connected, even if it floating from protective earth (PE). Assumptions on frequency and conductor impedance will alter that assumption of ground. Even if the voltage might be different from one tower to the next, it is still a Protective Earth for local threats from Lighting or grid faults. So there is a distinction between PE and electronic 0V grounds and depends on their connections or isolation. In a PC, they are common and connected to the frame for EMI reasons.

At the end of the day, we universally define "ground" as 0V only where it is connected, even if it floating from protective earth (PE). Assumptions on frequency and conductor impedance will alter that assumption of ground. Even if the voltage might be different from one tower to the next, it is still a Protective Earth for local threats from Lighting or grid faults. So there is a distinction between PE and electronic 0V grounds and depends on their connections or isolation. In a PC, they are common and connected to the frame for EMI reasons.

No if you mean the atomic charge part, but at the macro level, Yes yes, Everythingeverything is different.

It depends on the Capacitance and salts so it will spread like tree roots.
- It diffuses rapidly so you would not likely feel lightning in water 100m away because of the volume of water relative to you. Similar for soil (ask an Earth Scientist how they model it, or I can show you). But if you would a long conductor above the ground, a mile away, you could feel a zing.

That would be a fault condition. Split-phase (or "out of phase") is neutral grounded at source. If isolated ,it would still pose a differential fault.

charge is neutralized locally due to leakage resistance but given lightning strokes every second on average around the globe, it's only meaningful locally to change attractions to clouds momentarily. But with trans-Atlantic signals, there are considerable voltage differences and currents flowing.
- at the end of the day, we universally define "ground" as 0V only where it is connected, even if it floating from protective earth (PE). Assumptions on frequency and conductor impedance will alter that assumption of ground. Even if the voltage might be different from one tower to the next, it is still a Protective Earth for local threats from Lighting or grid faults. So there is a distinction between PE and electronic 0V grounds and depends on their connections or isolation. In a PC, they are common and connected to the frame for EMI reasons.

No if you mean the atomic charge part, but at the macro level, Yes, Everything is different.

It depends on the Capacitance and salts so it will spread like tree roots.

It diffuses rapidly so you would not likely feel lightning in water 100m away because of the volume of water relative to you. Similar for soil (ask an Earth Scientist how they model it, or I can show you). But if you would have a long conductor above the ground, a mile away, you could feel a zing.

That would be a fault condition. Split-phase (or "out of phase") is neutral grounded at source. If isolated, it would still pose a differential fault.

Charge is neutralized locally due to leakage resistance but given lightning strokes every second on average around the globe, it's only meaningful locally to change attractions to clouds momentarily. But with trans-Atlantic signals, there are considerable voltage differences and currents flowing.

At the end of the day, we universally define "ground" as 0V only where it is connected, even if it floating from protective earth (PE). Assumptions on frequency and conductor impedance will alter that assumption of ground. Even if the voltage might be different from one tower to the next, it is still a Protective Earth for local threats from Lighting or grid faults. So there is a distinction between PE and electronic 0V grounds and depends on their connections or isolation. In a PC, they are common and connected to the frame for EMI reasons.

No if you mean the atomic charge part, but at the macro level, yes, everything is different.

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created Feb 7, 2022 at 16:10

D.A.S.

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Earth is made of mostly insulation=dielectric (e.g. water has Dk=80) and conductive particles (salts, metals). Combined makes it poor for DC but good for AC dissipating by diffusion of AC currents and lightning is AC. Dielectrics have capacitance between conductors, so the earth is a "mesh" of both and varies greatly with moisture and soil.

How far can electricity flow in earth

It depends on the Capacitance and salts so it will spread like tree roots.
- It diffuses rapidly so you would not likely feel lightning in water 100m away because of the volume of water relative to you. Similar for soil (ask an Earth Scientist how they model it, or I can show you). But if you would a long conductor above the ground, a mile away, you could feel a zing.

What happens if we connect to the earth two AC power sources that are out of phase, can such a system work?

That would be a fault condition. Split-phase (or "out of phase") is neutral grounded at source. If isolated ,it would still pose a differential fault.

I recall reading somewhere that Earth is so massive that the electricity flowing in it doesn't change its charge (or something like that). Is it true? If yes, what does it mean?

charge is neutralized locally due to leakage resistance but given lightning strokes every second on average around the globe, it's only meaningful locally to change attractions to clouds momentarily. But with trans-Atlantic signals, there are considerable voltage differences and currents flowing.
- at the end of the day, we universally define "ground" as 0V only where it is connected, even if it floating from protective earth (PE). Assumptions on frequency and conductor impedance will alter that assumption of ground. Even if the voltage might be different from one tower to the next, it is still a Protective Earth for local threats from Lighting or grid faults. So there is a distinction between PE and electronic 0V grounds and depends on their connections or isolation. In a PC, they are common and connected to the frame for EMI reasons.

Is there any other difference between electric flowing in earth vs. flowing in wires which I didn't ask for above?

No if you mean the atomic charge part, but at the macro level, Yes, Everything is different.

Is there anything I left out in the above answers? Maybe. Try this out.

The equivalent RLC network is quite different. Earth is massively parallel, so low L and very wet, so large C dielectric and also very high R unless wet with salt. Characteristic Impedance is defined as \$Zo=\sqrt{\dfrac{L}{C}}\$ so from what I said above, Earth is very low impedance AC for all frequencies whereas wires are only very low impedance for DC and low frequency in long ranges and can only be better if made like a copper ground plane.