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What is the meaning of different type of grounds in electronic circuits? Can we use any ground in any circuit or not?

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Deepak Berwal
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  • highly similar: http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/237439/where-do-these-grounding-wires-go , http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/162591/how-to-add-ground-to-dc-circuit – Always Confused Jul 01 '16 at 19:05
  • http://i.stack.imgur.com/5EBO6.png from another ans at stack site – Always Confused Jul 01 '16 at 19:07

1 Answers1

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They represent different ground types.

The first is "circuit ground" and is a reference point in the circuit against which all voltages are measured.

The second is chassis ground and represents a connection to the metal enclosure the circuit is in.

The third represents earth ground and is a physical connection to the ground under your feet.

3 is often used in place of 1 though.

Also you sometimes get various different combinations of the three representing different ground zones in a circuit (digital ground, analog ground, power ground, etc) at the designer's discretion.

Majenko
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  • I agree with you, but are these differences standardized or it's just a sort of a convention? – Vladimir Cravero Jul 05 '14 at 13:33
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    They are as standard as resistors. I.e., some people use /// and some use |====| ;) It's standard, but not everyone sticks to the standard. – Majenko Jul 05 '14 at 13:53
  • Personally I use the triangular thing for resistances and the box style for generic impedances, possibly purely resistive – Vladimir Cravero Jul 05 '14 at 16:18
  • Officially /// is an American resistor, and |====| is a European resistor. I'm British (alas) and I was brought up on /// for resistors, and still use them to this day. – Majenko Jul 05 '14 at 16:20
  • Yeah I know that, but I think the box style is also official for impedances, so that's it. Here in Pisa (Italy) we use (they teach) the American style resistor anyway. – Vladimir Cravero Jul 05 '14 at 16:21