So I work on motherboards and understand ground is both a reference point (acts as 0 when testing against) and its "where electrons carrying charge want to go." but why?
Since a battery separates electrons and protons to opposite ends (and please correct me if I'm wrong, no electronics background here), you have a build up of electrons carrying negative charge at one end (positive terminal for conventional). Those want to get to negative terminal where there's both a lack of electrons and build up of protons –basically to be balanced.
And since short circuits involve an unintended path to ground – example cap becoming wire to ground, is ground in a circuit nothing more than an easy return path to the other end of the battery terminal where electrons want to go?
Again I'm just asking about circuit ground not earth ground. Thank you for your help.
First thanks for all the answers I really appreciate it. So am I correct to state the following:
Voltage isn't a set number or "thing" but rather the difference between two points in a circuit? Example a battery really isn't a voltage source but an introduced abundance of electrons built up at one terminal while doubling as the object that completes the loop for electrons to "flow?" Since there's a lack of electrons at the opposite terminal they rush through the circuit to get back to this "lack of electrons" to become balanced.
Ground is a point, deemed by engineers, to measure all voltages against aka reference point. When designing they measure voltages against the same point and list those in the schematic. So ground isn't really 0 it's just acting as our 0 reference point to measure another point against?
And by return path do you mean the other battery's terminal is connected and allows electrons to flow back through it? Thanks again.
Best Answer
Ground is something we define to be ground.
Voltages don't exist on a node. They exist between nodes - it describes the difference in potential between two points - a measure of how eager electrons want to flow from one to the other. A positive difference means they want to flow towards that node, a negative difference means they flow away from that node.
Because it would be clumsy to always talk about two nodes, we often define something as "ground". We say that this is the node to which all other voltages will be measured.
In many single-supply circuits, ground is also the final return path for currents - the conventional current starts out in the most positive point a from their flows to the most negative point. Electrons, however, are negative charges and flow from the negative to the positive. They come out of the ground terminal of your battery and go into the positive terminal.