NNNOOOOOO 0 Report post Posted April 20, 2011 Can I take a 9V battery and on one terminal, have a wire connected and shove it into the wet ground outside my house. Then take a LED and (correctly) connect it to the battery's other terminal. Then take another wire from the LED and shove it into another spot outside my house to make a complete connection?We do that anyways don't we? The only differences is that I'll be using a PP3 instead of a live 120V AC and thin solid core wire. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rvalkass 5 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 The circuits in your house do not normally connect to earth, but to live and neutral. The earth connection is only used to discharge current in an emergency (such as the live connection touching a metal part of a case). This also normally causes the trip switch to trip, cutting power. The earth is actually a pretty poor conductor - it simply acts as a safe low-impedance route to send dangerous currents out of your home wiring and devices.Having said that, it is possible to run a circuit through earth. All you need to do is overcome its resistivity with a strong enough voltage and current. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
