Love this guy. He makes electrical knowledge so accessable. Such a fantastic teacher.
@heterozombie3 жыл бұрын
This reminds me of being a kid, going to this ungrounded light pole down the street. If you grabbed the light pole and the metal railing next to the pole it would electrocute you and you couldn't let go without some difficulty. Good times.
@barbecuesauce38003 жыл бұрын
so the outside of the light pole was bonded to neutral?
@TheCinderDude3 жыл бұрын
💀💀 “good times”
@jacksak4 жыл бұрын
After years of KZbin, this is one of the most interesting videos. Thanks.
@knoxpruett18892 жыл бұрын
Something you did not mention, but I noticed you did. Under certain conditions (wet ground, raining) you should keep your feet together if you start to feel a shock. If your feet are at different distances from the gnd. rod or whatever, there most likely will be a dangerous voltage differencial between your feet and current will flow. This happened to me once. It was raining and I was walking towards a transformer down near the gnd. in the oilfield (touching nothing) when I started to feel my feet tingling, it became worse the closer I got. I stopped and put my feet together and it quit. So, I then jumped backwards and backed away. This was a higher voltage but it could still hurt you at 120 volts.
@jersey-dude3 жыл бұрын
Damn. I am shocked how this video turned out. Electrifying content.
@TheJimbob16034 жыл бұрын
This man has a lot of potential!
@ClevelandRocks2164 жыл бұрын
agreed! he already changed MY life for real..bought a amp meter, because of him, and it's my new favorite tool! and for 15 bucks?? yeah, run it!
@lestermarshall65014 жыл бұрын
Oooooohhh. That's a bad pun.
@stroys70614 жыл бұрын
I’m positive you’re right.
@lestermarshall65014 жыл бұрын
@@stroys7061 You're worse than he is.
@stroys70614 жыл бұрын
Lester Marshall That’s kind of negative. I was trying to be positive. 😖
@icevariable96003 жыл бұрын
Apprentice here. Excellent video! I just spent six hours studying ground and grounding rods and ground faults in NEC and tons of videos. One huge rabbit hole. I look forward to your series of videos.
@rogerrayburn82784 жыл бұрын
This brings to mind the "night-crawler hunting rig" that friend of my dad used more than 60 years ago. It consisted of two metal rods with lots of electrical tape wrapped around one end and sharpened on the other end. A long insulated copper wire went from one rod to a plug and another long insulated wire ran from the other rod to the other side of the same plug. He would drive one of the rods into the ground somewhere in the yard and then insert the plug into the socket. Then he would walk around the yard poking the "hot rod" into the ground until he found a soft spot where he would leave it for a few minutes. Eventually, night-crawlers would climb out of the ground and we would pick them up to go fishing the next day. As it turns out, the reason he was looking for a soft spot is that the rig worked best in slightly damp soil. Today I know how dangerous this was. Back then I can only remember an occasional "tingle" sometimes when picking the worms up off the damp ground. Your observation about the difference in voltage drop as the distance from the hot wire rod changes is evidence of the fact that ground is not a perfect conductor. A more familiar example is the power of lightning strikes and how a strike near a horse or cow standing on the ground causes them to get knocked over. Simply put, an animal with four feet on the ground experiences a potential (voltage) at one foot and a difference in potential at a different foot due to the resistance of the soil (earth) At the thousands of volts existing in lightning at the instant it strikes, each leg of the animal represents a separate parallel path for current to flow in addition to the path through the earth ground. This serves to remind us that lying on the ground during a lightning storm is exactly the wrong thing to do. The lightning does not have to be really close to do its damage to living things.
@Joshie22564 жыл бұрын
You have described what's known as step and touch potential. The ground acts as a resistor so the voltage varies along the path.
@hthalljr3 жыл бұрын
Hey, I did that as a kid, too, and lived to tell about it!
@richardp51613 жыл бұрын
Also explains how two people in water can get different shock voltages - one stretched out in the water and one standing upright. It's the distance along the voltage differentials that get ya'
@enteraqua3 жыл бұрын
So I should stand on one foot during a lightning storm?
@cphank1512 жыл бұрын
My neighbor lost two horses to a single lightning strike. Their bodies were found about 75 ft. In opposite directions from the tree that was blasted by the direct hit. The air in the lightning arc itself becomes a very good conductor during the instant the bolt occurs.
@robertlane66754 жыл бұрын
Great video Ben. I work for a telephone company and we had a customer who's phone quit working. It was determined that the underground drop wire went bad. When the old wire was disconnected the customer came out of the house saying that his lights were going crazy. It ended up that his neutral was open and the unbalanced load was using the telephone wire sheath to get back to the transformer (probably why it went bad). If the ground rod was zero ohms back to the center tap of the transformer this would not have happened. Keep up the great videos.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Wow. That is super interesting. Thank you for sharing!
@patrickbjordahl32393 жыл бұрын
Ever held on to that 70v DC line when grandma makes a land line call its a shocking experience i tell ya
@audiocarp3 жыл бұрын
@Robert Lane, yes, it's ridiculous that home and power company grounds are of such poor quality that a communications ground has to take up the slack. In older houses, it's common to find the ground clamp disconnected from the earth ground (rod or water pipe), because the zinc-plated steel screws rusted away over the years! Obviously, ground clamps should come with non-ferrous screws. Here's another crazy thing: Faults between the power company transformer and the meter have no overcurrent protection and are DESIGNED to burn themselves clear! So, during Hurricane Sandy, a hot conductor on a pole touched an aerial ground wire and it didn't burn open. It just kept burning. Eventually a sheathed telephone cable of several hundred pair started burning as well as cable TV wires because they also shared the same ground. Someone went around to the utility poles nearby cutting the vertical ground wires running to earth which actually made the problem worse!
@mr.3phase2284 жыл бұрын
I'm amped AND VOLTED for this new series.
@ClevelandRocks2164 жыл бұрын
same
@gunneredwards77103 жыл бұрын
You’re grounded for using too many puns
@chrisE8153 жыл бұрын
So was Ben
@richwood27414 жыл бұрын
If you ever work at a campground where the owners did their own RV power boxes and did not bury the supply properly you find out very quickly that if you get a knick in the supply line you will find it quickly and painfully by just placing your hand on the ground close to the knick. Talk about a surprise when i went to sit down to work on a water line. It was a fast way to find a hidden knick in a power line but not one i hope to try again any time soon.
@supertrucker129163 жыл бұрын
We found that out at the Ausable camp ground, I opened the fuse panel yes fuse panel they haven't updated their electric system, and I got a slight tingle it really wasn't bad then I hooked up my water line to the spigot and when I went to open my camper door I was knocked on my ass so my wife came running to see why I was on the ground she got nailed as well
@frankhynes45143 жыл бұрын
@@supertrucker12916 yes, it happens, and they will check on a dry day and find no problems GFIC help this
@caseycooper56153 жыл бұрын
You've done an excellent job of showing what many electricians are unaware: the physical ground is an unacceptable bond. Grounding (the rod in the ground) is for power quality (and lightning protection). The earth acts like a giant capacitor, smoothing out voltage spikes. It is NOT the "source;" that would be the transformer. A side effect of this is there is potential between the ground and energized components. This is where bonding comes in. Bonding is electrically connecting non current-carrying metal components, plus the physical ground AND a leg of the electrical system (usually the neutral), so they are at the same voltage potential. Should a metal part (such as an enclosure) become energized by fault current, it prevents you from being shocked. The bond to the neutral is a low resistance path, creating an intentional short that will clear fault current by tripping the breaker, before you have a chance to be shocked The physical ground is NOT a low resistance path to the source that can be used instead of running a bonding wire, as this video shows. How? The NEC allows a maximum of 25 ohms earth resistance to the grounding electrode. Using Ohms Law we see current (I) equals voltage (V) divided by resistance (R). I = 120/25 = 4.8 amps. Definitely not enough to trip a standard breaker. This video should make it clear why driving in two grounding electrodes to the ground instead of using a physical bonding wire is useless for safety. This is why all outbuildings must be connected with a separate bond wire, in addition to needing a separate grounding electrode. This also shows the value of a GFCI. If current somehow leaks to ground that is not enough to overload the breaker, it will still save your life. Thank you for demonstrating this important fact.
@anthonyvolkman23383 жыл бұрын
The reason you current is increasing somewhat is due to the voltage breaking down the insulating property of the ground (it's actually quite conductive on its own but not completely conductive or insulative either). It's heating up the water in the ground as well causing it to become conductive. Also it's working on the basis of electrolysis which makes things more conductive as well.
@AndyChipling Жыл бұрын
So in the rain things would get interesting?
@ep86564 жыл бұрын
Ben great video, I am a underground troubleshooter working for the utility company in NYC. Queens and Brooklyn. You would love to troubleshoot stray voltage in a underground network system. There are so many failure points, you do a great job in explaining and demonstrating the problems. Most people have no clue what the difference is between a ground and a neutral. If you opened the neutral to your home, the ground possibly pick up the amperage and you would have stray voltage all around your property. Especially on your hose spigots. 99% of flickering lights are due to open neutrals from utility, Great job, i subscribed today.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
I can't imagine doing troubleshooting work underground in NYC! Would be super fun to come along with you to work and see what its like. Thanks for sharing!
@spelunkerd4 жыл бұрын
I watched several of Mike Holt's seminars, but there is nothing to replace the field work showing these principles in action. Great demo! What I was surprised at is the extremely low impedance of your ground system, only ~12 ohms. Clearly that's because the transformer ground is only a dozen feet away, and your earth must be very damp. Even the principle of 'ground' is a confusing misnomer. The earth is simply the least resistance connection back to the center pole of the transformer.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
I too was surprised at the low impedance. I was expecting closer to 5 amps at most!
@kefrenferrer67774 жыл бұрын
It depends on the distance from the ground rod, the humidity of soil, after rain breaker jumps instantly, mid swimmer sunny day mmm
@sbusweb4 жыл бұрын
+spelunkerd Actually MIke Hold did do that expirement, different details complements this video well:- kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5iZeGiMirimjaM
@MrThomasfouraker4 жыл бұрын
I enjoy seeing other you tubers I subscribe to commenting on other subscribed channels. Really enjoy bens hvac and electrical videos and spelunkards dodge videos are the best on the web from an explanation standpoint. Two great content creators!
@MandrewP4 жыл бұрын
I believe in Canada the ground rod resistance has to be less that 5 ohms and less than 25 ohms in the U.S. But keep in mind that there are two ground rod resistances in series, the one for the main service panel and the other one at the transformer. What goes down into the ground must come back up. So the ground rod resistance in this case, which gave 10 amps of current, must have been 6 ohms + 6 ohms = 12 ohms total.
@MARKE9113 жыл бұрын
As a Water Utility worker. We are required to check for electrical voltage. The old school way was to ground the electrical system to the plumbing. I have been shocked when working on our water system. When we find the source we have the electrical company pull their meter and then they require them to get it fixed. Great video.
@NikolayKepov3 жыл бұрын
Great video. It was a good visual representation of how a "bad earthing" is not really effective. For reference where I live the earhing resistance rating is required to be low enough to allow the circuit breaker to do its job .For example in your case you were getting around 12 Ohms which allows for only arround 10 Amps to "flow" to earth (120V / 12 Ohm = 10A). If you had for example a couple more rods connected to this one and got the resistance lower then 6 Ohms more electricity Amps(20+) will "flow" to earth and the thermal protection in the breaker will cut the power. Earhing is brilliant as a protection it just needs to be low enough to work with the intended breakers.
@sadhucat4476 Жыл бұрын
Thanks for clearing this up. Yeah I think he could pass the 20 amps and trip the breaker if the grounding rod was deeper or longer. I think the point is more than a high resistance grounding rod is not safe.
@ratchet1freak4 жыл бұрын
As an FYI over-current breakers have 2 modes for tripping, one is a bimetalic strip that bends as it's heated by the current going through it, that pushes an actuator to trip the breaker. The other is a solenoid which triggers the trip mechanism immediately. The solenoid is tuned to trip at a higher current than what the breaker is labeled as. And the bimetalic strip is set to trip after a few minutes of rated current. So your short arc welding adventure will have drawn more current than 20A before the breaker tripped. The combo breakers use more sophisticated methods to detect the fault they are guarding in combination with the normal over-current detection.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Exactly. I want to take apart one of these dual function breakers and then see how it trips. If I'm careful enough maybe I can do so and keep it working! We shall see.
@deanrhodenizer9384 жыл бұрын
Ben, thanks again, interesting video. It would be worth your while having a read about substation grounding mats. These are critical to the safety of personnel working there. In fact, the normal setup is for the chain link fence to be grounded to this mat to prevent folks who touch the fence (unlock the gate for example) from being electrocuted from those earth voltage gradients that could be present in certain circumstances.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Interesting! I'll have to read about that for sure!
@KevinCoop14 жыл бұрын
Benjamin, Very good video! I will reference this when I see necessary to change someone's mind! About 99% of electricians and engineers incorrectly think it should trip. What I taught was, If you need worms to go fishing, get one of those 12" long nails, attach it to a wooden handle(like from a rake) solder a conductor to it up the handle and install a plug to it on the hot side. Now get an extension cord and plug it into a standard receptacle that you connect to the breaker in this video. Plug it in, and probe the ground in different places. Worms come very quickly out of the ground. Suggest you pull it out of the dirt before picking up the worms though! Respectfully, Kevin
@GUYJO19693 жыл бұрын
No 99% of electricians and electrical engineer know the breaker will not trip. So here is why the breaker did not trip, the was no source back to the grounded conductor. When you drive a ground rod for a panel, a conductor is taken from the rod to the “neutral bar” or ground bar (I am setting this up as a first means of disconnect scenario and both the bars are bonded together) bounding the ground rod to the source power ground. Basically what I am saying, no path exists back to the source power ground because there is to much impedance in the earth to allow the electricity to flow freely from one ground rod to the other.
@KevinCoop13 жыл бұрын
@@GUYJO1969 My point is, if you ask electricians and electrical designers and engineers this question 99% give an incorrect answer. Question, In a properly installed electrical system, if there is a short circuit between a hot conductor and the case of an electric heater that has equipment ground connected to it, from that point what is the path that the current will flow? Please give me your response to the question. I think you will get it correct. Respectfully, Kevin
@GUYJO19693 жыл бұрын
@@KevinCoop1 It flows across the ground conductor to the grounding bar, and then to the neutral (technically the grounded conductor of the service) thus tripping the breaker. With respect, I am an electrician and I have always taught my apprentices that I’m order for a grounding system to work properly that all metallic parts that are not supposed to be energized must be “grounded” (I use that term loosely) or bonded (this is the proper term) together. I have never had, but one set of prints in which a grounding conductor did not return to the source neutral, it was for an IG system, I flatly refused to do it. With respect to you I have been an electrician for over 20 years, I do not know of any electrician or electrical engineer who insist that the entire system be bonded back.
@GUYJO19693 жыл бұрын
It’s kinda insulting that you and you other people think so poorly of us as a trade. We try to train everyone the best we can. It’s very regrettable that you have ran into electricians that believe a ground rod driven into the ground and not tied into the source grounded conductor will trip a breaker. That is one of the first things I teach my apprentices. I had a friend shocked because the service neutral was lost at the pole and all the voltage and current was running down the grounding conductor to the ground rod. I can give you more details if you like.
@cindytepper88784 жыл бұрын
Now you need to experiment with a SWER (Single Wire Earth Return) circuit. They use them for remote locations and also they were used for early rural electrification. Typically they used high voltages and a single steel conductor because the high tensile of the steel allowed larger spacing between poles. Low resistance grounding systems are key to making it work well so multipal rods and treatment around the rods with salt or other chemicals helps a lot. You'd be surprised at what you can power even at lower voltages like 120. Running a couple lights or small power tools is no problem
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
That sounds extremely interesting! I'll definitely keep that in mind for a future video!
@NillKitty3 жыл бұрын
You can even run a crystal radio with only an earth connection and no power whatsoever just from atmospheric capacitance.
@davewilson99242 жыл бұрын
Most all of rural Australia is SWER.
@NavinF2 жыл бұрын
He delivered! There’s a SWER light bulb video on the channel now
@cphank1512 жыл бұрын
As an amateur radio operator I fed a 70 ft. Ground mounted tower using a gamma match at the base. Antenna performance drastically improved when I pulled out the ground rod, dug a posthole about 4 ft. Backfilled with salted soil, and re-installed the ground rod right in the center of "the salt of the earth".
@deadbolt917653 жыл бұрын
An excellent demonstration of step/touch potential. Excellent job.
@QuaabQueb4 жыл бұрын
Mike Holt would be proud. He was one of the first guys who posted a video doing this.
@USAV3T4 жыл бұрын
So lucky to have a pole driver to set your ground rods. All I ever get is a bottle of water.
@nelsonherrera10384 жыл бұрын
USAV3T 😂😂😂🤣😂😂😂
@kmds19084 жыл бұрын
@Martin Herndon Eeek, say it a'int so, cutting grounding rods?!?! lol.
@gameratortylerstein56363 жыл бұрын
Why not just use a sledgehammer?
@jdevine403 жыл бұрын
Ben - Keep on keepin' on with this stuff... pure gold!
@billm6171 Жыл бұрын
Southwest Missouri here, I really like all your videos. That was an exceptionally good experiment thank you
@Bacongrease004 жыл бұрын
Couple thoughts, When I have done ground resistance testing utilizing FOP method most single ground rods I’ve tested in dry soil have been around 10-25 ohms. These breakers have a long time and instantaneous trip elements. To hit the instantaneous region you are going to be somewhere around 10-15X the FLA rating otherwise you are in the time-over current region. Trying to measure fault current you may be better served by a meter that has a peak function as some meters are not “fast” enough to capture that instantaneous peak reading. Cool video!
@Bacongrease004 жыл бұрын
I think the voltage step potential that you highlighted was cool. This is a big deal in high voltage substations where you can be dealing with thousands of volts step potential if equipment isn’t bonded thoroughly.
@theinternetelectrician3 жыл бұрын
Good video Benjamin! I had someone comment on one of my videos asking me this question and I replied saying that if it was a good ground with sufficiently low resistance, it would trip the breaker. He then pointed me to this video. Had I thought about it a little longer before answering I would have changed my mind. It reminded me of how my father and I got rid of dew worms in the lawn by placing 2 metal coat hangers in the ground about 3 feet apart and attaching them to hot and neutral. The breaker didn't trip, but the dew worms sure didn't like it and would come wriggling out of the ground almost immediately! Again, we must remind our viewers, "DON'T TRY THESE EXPERIMENTS YOURSELF" Way too much room for error! Step voltage and touch voltage can be very dangerous and deadly!
@tobiasm51643 жыл бұрын
Your Lastname Stahlstrom means Steel Electricity in german. So your name fits perfectly to the video
@elektrocat86813 жыл бұрын
Its sahlstrom doe😂
@bjornSE3 жыл бұрын
It's actually an old Swedish name and the last part "Ström" does translates to "river" or "electricity.
@elektrocat86813 жыл бұрын
@@bjornSE I know but his name is sahlstrom not sTahlstrom
@damagecase143 жыл бұрын
@@bjornSE it just translates to directly to "steel current". Ström means current :)
@astifcaulkinyeras3 жыл бұрын
I regularly work with 12kV breakers. Thanks to this video I'm thinking I should open all breaker cabinets in class 2 gloves.
@bmedicky4 жыл бұрын
2:31 "...without pre-twisting". You, sir, just broke the Internet.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Haha oops...
@brianleeper57374 жыл бұрын
You don't need to pre-twist if you install wire nuts like you mean it. The wire nut itself will twist the wires as you install it. Keep going till you see a couple of twists on the insulated portion of the wire below the wire nut and you can be assured that what's inside the wire nut is twisted as well.
@farmerdave79654 жыл бұрын
You do not need to pre-twist if your wire nut is listed for it. In other words the wire nut must be designed for non-twisted wire. I always twist because that's what I was taught when I was an apprentice. I think it gives a more reliable connection.
@brianleeper57374 жыл бұрын
@@farmerdave7965 If the wire nut requires the wires to be pre-twisted the instructions will say so. I haven't run across any like that.
@russrockino-rr08644 жыл бұрын
@@brianleeper5737 I totally agree! I have been in the trade for 25 years, I was never instructed to pre-twist the wires when I was an apprentice and I have never done it as a Journeyman. It is one of my pet peeves when I watch other Electricians from other States on KZbin. Quality wirenuts don't require it and Wagos(push-in connectors) don't require it obviously. It is just a waste of time. Russ from Oregon.
@ID10TDriving4 жыл бұрын
I’ll be honest. I thought it would trip. Level of thinking. “15A breaker, going straight to ground. Thought the draw would be too great and that would have tripped it.” Good to have this knowledge considering all the renovations I have been doing. Might have to upgrade to GFCI/AFCI breakers even if it is not called for per code. Seems like a safe step to take. Thanks for taking the time to do these experiments.
@V21IC4 жыл бұрын
I really like this video! I'm into structure cabling. Short to Ground will only the breaker of the Ground is bonded to Neutral( at the Main Panel)! I've seen engineers and electricians install 'isolalated ground' that does not connects the building grounding system at Main Panel.😱
@V21IC2 жыл бұрын
* short to ground or any metal part would only work if at the breaker panel or first disconnect the current carrying conducter(neutral) is BONDED to ground.
@ZavesRave3 жыл бұрын
First thing I thought of was the step potential from his proposed experiment, great to see he knew this and showed us the potential gradient. The understanding of this can take electricians/engineers years to grasp so great to see a young fella on the ball.
@stephenrowley41713 жыл бұрын
There where some horse killed in the UK at racing meet due to damaged hurried cable. Few years ago due to step potential people where fine due to the small step potential while the horses with their larger step potential where not
@mikeburch29984 жыл бұрын
You're lining up to be one superb and high end electrician in the years to come. Greetings from Arizona. Oh yeah, please make a video about extracting worms.
@vicious98647 ай бұрын
I love this guy. I saw his video 2 years ago and subscribed! Thank you for testing these electrical theories into objective reality
@Djm93934 жыл бұрын
this man is a full sender! hahah send it bro
@patrick_rousseau3 жыл бұрын
A genuie thank you for allowing me to learn through your experiments!
@trcostan4 жыл бұрын
Bonding is what makes everything safe!
@frankhynes45143 жыл бұрын
Same with GFI but they to need be checked “ test button “
@MrEmrys242 жыл бұрын
although I know the principle behind this topic it is still different when you see a live demonstration of it this is a perfect demonstration
@thereedbreed3 жыл бұрын
Perfect example of how downed power lines can be really dangerous
@BrentFreyEsq4 жыл бұрын
Great video; excited for the series! And you got me on the first test, ha--I didn't notice it was a DF breaker and answered "no" on the poll. Almost had an internal crisis when it tripped, lol. 14:38 - "That's wild. Ok, I'm going to go shut this off." Exactly what I was thinking as you were stepping around, ha. Stay safe!
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
That was my goal! ;) I too am looking forward to testing out various concepts in upcoming videos. There are a lot of good ideas in the comments of this video already!
@AngelEduardoLopezZambrano3 жыл бұрын
Bro, the ground you just put in is a different ground from the one your panel is hooked up on. The soil has electrical resistance! This is exactly why there is one ground per service and only one! If instead of nailing a new ground, you just connect to the existing one, you would have a short immediately, just like you had when you sorted to your panel... Now, in a building with a good grounding there is less risk because metal in the building is good conductor, which would trip the breaker if touched by a hot wire. Great video, but I wish you'd explained it all better, the way you left it, makes it look like, in a correctly grounded system you are not safe.
@bpark100012 жыл бұрын
The arc to the panel frame IS NOT 20 amps! It is 120 divided by whatever the circuit impedance is which is greater than 100A. Impedance is way less then 1 ohm. (If it were 1 ohm, there would be 400W dissipation in the wiring circuit at 20A!) Every breaker has an "I squared T" rating. Given that the rate of connection is "fast" compared to the breaker response time, the current will go to whatever the circuit can deliver. Even a standard "washing machine" induction motor draws over 50A for a second when starting up. Breaker I squared T rating of the breaker must be able to pass this (or there will be nuisance trips), so higher surges or even 100's of amps are possible if the surge starts abruptly.
@jkbrown54964 жыл бұрын
This isn't expert opinion. There are two ground systems in household electricity. The ground rod which provides a path for high voltage spikes induced by nearby lighting strikes, static from dry wind air flow, in big systems partial faults in motor windings and such. If the ground rod wasn't there then those spikes would build until they breached the insulation voltage rating and/or found an arc path to Earth. Uncontrolled arc paths are bad because they can happen right through or around flammable material. The high voltage spikes are high frequency and dissipate in the Earth resistance as they travel to the transmission system ground rod or the Earths static field. It can still have enough current to kill a puny human if they are part of the path. The safety ground is the bonding wire that connects every part that could become energized due to a hot wire fault, such as chassis, water and gas piping, etc, with a very low impedance path back to the transformer and then the breaker to clear the fault. You can still die in that split second it takes for the breaker to trip if your body makes the final connection. The bonding of the neutral to the system ground provides a path for the system spikes. The bonding of the safety ground to the neutral provides a path through the transformer to the breaker. The ground rod started out at 9 amps which is 13 ohms and increased, likely due to heating along the path in the Earth reducing resistance. 20 amps for the breaker is 6 ohms but you need lower resistance to cause an overcurrent fault or more time for a heating fault. The ground rod was interacting with the system ground of the box, the Earth provided a resistance between the test and system ground rods. When you touched the cabinet, you were interacting with the safety ground system, i.e., almost no resistance, high current to trip the breaker. The only way to get everything to the same potential is to use a low resistance connection, i.e., wire. And electricity takes all paths back to complete the circuit, including the ground rod if there is a path, not just the least resistance. The least resistance path gets the bulk of the parallel current.
@V21IC4 жыл бұрын
Also, I'll say for better effectiveness, one system is more sensitive to resistance(ground to neutra path). The other is more sensitive to impedance due to the frequencies. That's why the ground conducter to the electrode must be short, straigh and with minimal bends as possible. Sharp bends increases the inductance significantly!
@chrisv46404 жыл бұрын
JK Brown why would a human being part of the path necessarily kill the human? Lightning strikes are one thing, but he is on a 120volt circuit. Would the electricity not travel along his skin as the easiest path and not close to his heart? Millivolts can kill your heart in close contact but it would be hard to get that close to the heart, given paths with less resistance. I have zapped myself plenty of times (120 and 240) with both of my hands completing a circuit and I am alive and well.
@scottandrew20664 жыл бұрын
🤦🏻♂️
@matthewsuggs16374 жыл бұрын
Have to say, I am total blind and I bought the Home sense and had it installed and its helping me know what is useing all the power and so forth while moveing each line to the other breaker to take away from directly from the grid. Thanks for showing what would happen if I mess up and power go into ground. so I need to get a GFI breaker 240v breaker from the inverter so if a wire is wrong it trips. Thanks
@vk3fbab4 жыл бұрын
You'll trip the breaker if the ground stake is close enough to your panel's earth stake to allow more than 20A to flow. It's interesting to note that locally the earth has a fairly high resistance (as demonstrated by your voltage gradient) however because of the planet's size it has a low resistance because the area of the conductor is huge even though the conductivity of the ground is lower than a traditional conductor.
@danielgladstone17893 жыл бұрын
I wish someone can actually do it so I can "see" it. It's sometimes difficult for me to learn without tangible proof and I don't have enough safety equipment to try it at home haha. I might go boom!
@REKlaus3 жыл бұрын
Great demonstration on the voltage gradient! Just remember that the farther your feet are apart, the greater the potential is between your feet! This is just with 120 volts. Just think if you had a near by lightning strike with several 10's of thousands of volts and thousands of amps flowing through the ground and add multiple ground rods Not bonded together and you can start to see how so much damage is done to electric appliances and electronic due to nearby strikes or surges on the power lines.
@grassroot0114 жыл бұрын
Depends on how well it connects to power station ground. Source ground. Earth ground is not the same as source ground. From the generator source.
@michaelandrecht75084 жыл бұрын
Ben The ground wire is to keep equipment at same potential as the neutral. As you video show at ground rod their is zero potential , the further you go away the higher the voltage. Therefore the green wire keeps the equipment or as you call it frame at same potential which prevents you becoming a alternate path to ground and getting shocked it is not designed to carry neutral load. This is called step potential. Your GFI type circuit breaker are called differential relays what goes out has to match what coming back and detests leak / shorts to ground and it will trip almost instantly as it see as you stated as low as 5 milliamps. Better than 20amp overload technology. The main thing you have not talked about is the neutral wire can kill you even if main and branch/ feeder CB are open . The neutral is still connected and is therefore it goes back to utility company transformer feeding you and other houses, etc. Therefore if you are working on circuit close to another service panel you could be the path of least resistance and be a parallel path back to utility company transformer ( step potential again.) As a retired utility company grid operator and licensed electrical contractor I have seen one fatality and one person shocked due to this. Yes this is 1 in a million but possible , however in your farm setting 1 in a billion. Also soil type, moisture content , water pipes, gas lines, sewer pipe rebar in major highways etc , etc. and distribution transformer specs. are tested and minium trips for circuits are calculated on a utility grid most houses however are using 15, 20 amp , etc circuit breakers or 1940 technology. The new codes and GFI type circuit breakers are 1,000 times better to protect your house and you against death , fire, and shocks. Final note If on a power grid it's down and your running off your generator and lighting hits the neutral lead on the grid it will want to find ground and can come down that utility company ground lead and it will try to go thru your panel to your ground and if your generator ground/ neutral is not isolated it can back feed and damage generator windings This depends on a number of variables of the situation, how close lighting hit to your equipment, intensity of hit moisture content , size of wire , etc., Etc. It is a possibility Therefore a high end transfer switch will isolate and change neutral over to your generator which will be a grounded system even if it's a open neutral as your video shows.
@ronaldkovacs70803 жыл бұрын
When the wire was touched to the metallic box, the current was far greater than 20 amps. The only limit on the current would be the impedance of the secondary winding of the utility transformer and the current probably peaked to 10K amps before the breaker tripped. That’’s why the wire melted. 20 amps should not have harmed the wire.
@mikea19734 жыл бұрын
By the way. .ur main panel job u did at ur house is a work of art..excellent videos. Keep them coming.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@youpattube13 жыл бұрын
You could have had some incandescent lights hooked to the live and various locations in the ground to demonstrate the voltage gradient.
@md.moniruzzamanbhuiyan38083 жыл бұрын
Great job Ben. I request you to repeat the experiment again and this time do these two things, firstly measure the current of your main grounding (one that is bonded with your neutral) leaving all other breakers of your main panel off. Secondly, disconnect your main grounding and see how much current flows through your new grounding.
@brianhogan4334 жыл бұрын
Mike Holt has great grounding and bonding info
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Absolutely!
@WaddaFundraiser4 жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Feels like you should've given Mike a little credit (or shout-out) here for all that you've learned in the past month. I saw your guys' exchange on the last video and like you I have learned a lot over the last month. :) Give him a shout out and I'll subscribe, making you my third subscription (I subscribe sparingly). Great video, though, great demonstrations and really nice production work making sure everything was visible. That one auto-focus shift right before the breaker trip was a gem, and I imagined you being delighted to discover it in editing. :) Questions and ideas for future videos (I've always been fascinated with Tesla's similar experiments): 1) What can you power with that earth to earth voltage differential? Perhaps two more ground rods with a load and measure the amps there? 2) This is AC going into the ground, is there any phase shift as you get further away from the ground rod? Perhaps a phase shift is affecting the voltage reading? (180 degrees out of phase would read 0.) 3) If you repeated this exact same experiment from the video with DC what would change? Again, great work! Really looking forward to your future videos!
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
@@WaddaFundraiser I actually did have this video in the works before I saw/found Mike's content but you're absolutely right that I should reference him more often! Maybe I'll add a card promoting one of his videos at the end of this one or add something in the description.
@miguelac68723 жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminSahlstrom I watch mikes videos. That guys is awesome bro
@joeyg.29533 жыл бұрын
I'm an electrician. I guessed it wasn't going to trip. Pretty cool experiment. As soon as you showed the breaker I was like "that's a gfci breaker, he should be using a regular breaker!"
@Clowndestine4 жыл бұрын
Congratulations, you just built the first copper wire heating element. Welcome to the 19th century!
@CrashCarson143 жыл бұрын
Yeah how hot did that rod get?
@Clowndestine3 жыл бұрын
@@CrashCarson14 Actually it would be measurable with two thyristors in series. But that's another 5th grade physics class. LOL
@Leatherbark4 жыл бұрын
Good experiment! But electricity does not want to go ground. It wants to go back to its source which is the center tap of that transformer on the pole. It just uses the earth as a path to get there
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Yup!
@ZaganStoanes3 жыл бұрын
My grandfather used to do this to get worms. He would dampen the ground then turn it on and wait for the worms to surface then turn it off and collect the worms.
@uksds38063 жыл бұрын
Confused ...
@Sharpless23 жыл бұрын
@@uksds3806 why confused? This is a useful trick for fishing.
@docferringer3 жыл бұрын
I've seen exterminators do this to drive moles to the surface. In other words, you may end up with your very own zoo bubbling up out of the ground around you! ;) WARNING: Don't do this at home. You are opening a can of worms (no pun intended) that could result in a person or pet being electrocuted. You are also making the dangerous assumption that the new grounding rod is a better ground than others in the area. Your current path could end up being dangerously different from what you expect.
@kemfacts5 ай бұрын
14:55 that’s also one of the reasons why the ground rods are bonded to the neutral in the panel. That way it trips the breaker. If is it done the correct way it is safe, but if your grounding system is not bonded it is not safe.
@Hambxne4 жыл бұрын
Holy shit when you stuck the probes in the ground I didn't expect that result!
@bgd733 жыл бұрын
I was welding in my yard once, old dirty mig welder on the dirt. Out of a corner of my eye I looked over to a pine tree root smoking, almost 20 feet away. Nothing ever popped... root was on fire. Excellent video right here. anyway, a maine pine is very alkalinic and whatever else...they explode to lightning...I set it off with my old mig.
@AndrewBrowner3 жыл бұрын
he just showed how the voltage going directly into the ground drops off to nothing after a few feet... you certainly didnt have enough power 20feet away to start a tree root on fire, and the highest voltage was at the plug the mig welder adds nothing to that system they operate below 30v DC
@AndrewBrowner3 жыл бұрын
more than likely it was alot closer than 20feet, and either hot spatter, or concentrated sparks from an angle grinder caught some dead grass on fire
@JWH34 жыл бұрын
Just a note, and I would actually like to see this tested if you have a meter that can test the actual short duration spike, but when you shorted that conductor to the housing and got that good arc that vaporized the conductor you were probably drawing more than 20 amps. Yes the breaker is rated to trip at twenty amps but they're mechanical devices and take a finite time to switch so for at least part of a cycle you could have been drawing consideriably more than 20 amps.
@Froggability4 жыл бұрын
Could be 5-6 times that like 120A easy. It's like welding as you can see. The most dangerous moment in this vid, we are trusting the KA rating of the gfci breaker. And failing that a PSC of 1000s Amps is possible. Flash-over kills more electrician than electrocution does
@JWH34 жыл бұрын
@@Froggability yeah, single cycle arc currents can be huge.
@classic2874 жыл бұрын
Very interesting. Love it. That spark off the panel reminds me of years ago when I was working on my panel, I touched a wire to something and I bounced off a wall behind me. I paid a little better attention after that 😳
@butters7424 жыл бұрын
Im looking forward to this series. Very good video! Grounding rod from what im getting in my electrical apprentice journey is for lightning mainly. Its all about the current as those electrons get back to the source that trips a breaker so going to the grounding rod wouldn't do it. As for why that happens im still learning haha. I know bonding vs grounding is a confusing subject. But really grounding rods get too much focus.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Agreed.
@MandrewP4 жыл бұрын
An easy way to think of it is to look at a house as having two separate grounding systems which are for different purposes and are not functionally related to each other. The first grounding system uses the EGC (equipment grounding conductor) to provide a low impedance path back to the neutral bus bar to trip the breaker right away. The second grounding system simply connects the house's electrical system to the earth to allow accumulated static charges to go where they want and need to go - to the earth. Otherwise the static voltage can build up quite high on all of that wiring and short out expensive motors and things like that. Also it helps reduce high voltage spikes from nearby lighting strikes which also want to go to ground. So just look at this as two grounding systems with two different purposes which are not related. You could disconnect the earth ground and have no less safe an installation in the event of a hot wire touching the metal cabinet of an appliance, etc. The earth ground is not meant to help out in a situation like that, the ECG grounding system is entirely self sufficient in protecting from electrical shock due to cabinets becoming electrified.
@user-hm1cq9wr2o Жыл бұрын
@@MandrewP Great explanation!
@rubenlobo782 жыл бұрын
my best Electricity classes and without paying Excelente video 👍
@jensschroder82143 жыл бұрын
This is the reason that you shouldn't put your feet far apart in the event of a lightning strike. My aunt always told the story where lightning struck next to a cow. The poor animal had its legs wide apart and was killed by the current in the ground.
@frankhynes45143 жыл бұрын
National Grid call it bunny hopping so voltage different between feet be very low. I can tell first hand you feel static electricity building up just before lighting strike
@dannyl65073 жыл бұрын
A good video would be to track down and find a hidden high-resistance short like this where you didn't know where the ground fault was.
@ldiazmdiaz4 жыл бұрын
That is the way of getting live worm bait "Night-crawlers" beware if it is wet or when it rains!!!
@darrelfuhrman82172 жыл бұрын
Ben, why do you have a conduit going up a tree? On the breaker, I figured that it would trip in 30 seconds. Boy was I wrong. I work on a farm ranch in north east Montana. I work with 6vdc, 12vdc, 24vdc. 24vac, 120vac, 240vac, 480vac. We have 5 pivots, two are 480v 3 phase, two are 480v 3 phase from diesel generators, one is 480v 3 phase from a rotary phase converter. The last has 10 active condensers with 11 inactive condensers. These ground tests that you do are extremely important to me, because we have 6 heated cattle waters, 4 heated cattle water tanks 300 to 1200 gallons. Before I started here, he almost lost some bulls from an electrified waterer. Due to an unconnected ground wire. When they were installed over then summer, someone missed 2 ground wires. They had to put the bulls in a pen with a plain tank before the bulls would drink.
@sumilidero3 жыл бұрын
Thats the best way to learn. Do the things you should never do xD Let's connect ground rod to live wire and walk nearby ;D
@somewhereinontario15002 жыл бұрын
Late to the show but appreciate what you’re doing 👍
@BenjaminSahlstrom2 жыл бұрын
I appreciate you being here!
@delspark4 жыл бұрын
Did you measure the resistance of your earth rod ? It’s such a high resistance the MCB wouldn’t trip you would eventually start a fire 🔥 on the cable you would use your rcd for additional protection 👋 🇬🇧
@devincress52583 жыл бұрын
This is why the NEC requires two 8 foot ground rods spaced at least 6 feet apart - one isn't enough. This is also why your ground is bonded to neutral in the main breaker panel. That neutral is not only center-tapped at the transformer, but it runs all the way back to the substation and is grounded at every pole and every service. The service ground doesn't protect anything, necessarily. The neutral is almost always going to be the path of least resistance. But unbalanced loads mean that the neutral carries current, and we want the neutral to be at zero volts so neutral is tied to ground everywhere possible. The neutral wires inside a house are almost always going to carry current, so we have a separate ground wire to serve as a safety.
@patthesoundguy4 жыл бұрын
This is why you need to connect a metal outdoor stage at a festival to the panel ground and not just drive a ground rod and Earth it. That's what the utility here in Nova Scotia was calling for any metal outdoor stage has to have a ground rod down 8 feet and the stage connected to it. No other connections. So if a power cable shorts to the stage the breaker will not trip leaving the stage live to kill people. The utility actually thinks the ground rod will trip the breaker. scary! I have been wanting to do that test for a long time and show the utility the results.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
That illustrates it perfectly. Crazy that this misconception still exists.
@spelunkerd4 жыл бұрын
Yes, exactly.
@V21IC4 жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Especially among some engineers/electricians that install computer rooms and data centers! Once, I complained about that and the engineer removed from the project
@Dreddip4 жыл бұрын
They do that to prevent people from climbing onto the stage.🤣
@patthesoundguy4 жыл бұрын
@@Dreddip that works 👍
@davefoc Жыл бұрын
Some possible additional experiments: 1. Wet the ground near the ground rod. 2. Wet the ground rod near the panel. 3. Soak the ground to simulate a heavy rain 4. Move the ground rod half way to the panel My guess is that wetting the ground near the ground rods will substantially improve the effectiveness of the ground rod because effective surface area of the ground rod will be increased substantially. My guess is that moving the ground rod closer to the panel will cause the breaker to trip, but I'm not sure. The resistance of some paths between the panel and the grounding rod would be substantially reduced but when the grounding rod is farther away the area that current passes through might be increased enough to counteract the fact that there are some paths have significantly less resistance when the ground rod and the panel are closer.
@MemoriesRR4 жыл бұрын
Years ago my male dog peed on a ground stake at the foot of a power pole and got a nasty shock. So guys watch where you pee.
@wtla3 жыл бұрын
Does that mean the ground rod has a poor connection to the earth, possibly due to corrosion? If the dog is grounded, and the rod is grounded, where is the shock potential?
@MrSummitville3 жыл бұрын
@Pimp My Ditch Witch Myth-Busters showed this was dam near impossible - even using a high voltage fence shocker !
@frankhynes45143 жыл бұрын
Guys, in Boston each winter there are few dogs that get electrocuted just walking on side walk from electric leakage from street light and salt does not help, you will see dogs with boots on feet, NO JOKE look it up like video Ben Add some salt water for city Folks
@MrSummitville3 жыл бұрын
@@frankhynes4514 @R D P stated, his dog peed on a GROUND ROD. Did his dog tell him that it was shocking? Now, you are talking about HIGH VOLTAGE wires underground - Two completely different scenarios. Yes, HIGH VOLTAGE Power Wires are dangerous - everybody knows that ...
@checopacheco4204 жыл бұрын
Practical replication experimentation thanks for sharing good stuff love it.
@DarkMatterGold12104 жыл бұрын
When I watch the video, I feel like I'm in the Stone Age. As far as electrics are concerned, you are unbelievable light years behind in your country.
@qball38354 жыл бұрын
Oh whatever. Yeah, I'm sure you're so advanced you don't even use conductors anymore.
@DarkMatterGold12104 жыл бұрын
@@qball3835 Look at European Standarts and u will see !!!
@mattolson70373 жыл бұрын
@@DarkMatterGold1210 Actually the electrical systems used in Europe have more points of failure and result in a higher likelihood of injury or death. So your comment is completely false. Also, how can you say you are light years ahead when fewer than 5% of European households have air conditioning. You’re the ones who are still in the Stone Age.
@dantaniondb3 жыл бұрын
Hey Mike...Can you expand your comment & include an example or two?? Tx
@Nickvec3 жыл бұрын
dantaniondb Not that I'm promoting Europe, but I've seen videos from Europe in which they talk about the superior safety features of European plugs and that Wago connectors are superior and used in Europe.
@titogaray52243 жыл бұрын
Thank you for clarifying why ground wires are installed the way they specified to be done.
@Reegareth4 жыл бұрын
So I have been directed here from another video. Very interesting video and this somewhat goes against what I am used to. I'm a commercial electrician however and have never worked on anything smaller than a building with a 2,000 amp 277/480 delta Y service. In these buildings our grounding is rather substantial we bond almost every aspect of the building and the sheer amount of conductive mass connected to the panels is pretty extreme with everything being connected with typically a CAD welded #250 Bare ground wire as well as a Ufer ground, Delta Ground, Cold Water Ground, Building Steel Ground and of course Every other piece and aspect of the building are completely and totally connected (ignoring any IG's that may be present in the building). So I know my way around the Installation of larger electrical systems. NOW in this scenario, you are connecting your hot wire to earth directly but Your ground rod is not a part of your electrical system. I think It is worth pointing out that this is somewhat misleading... At your first means of disconnect for a separately derived system, you have to bond your Grounded conductor directly to your Grounding Conductor which then brings everything all together at your main switch whatever that may be. The reason I'm bringing this up is people may confuse that ground rod as the same thing as the GROUND in a building. It is in absolutely no way the same thing but I don't really think that was clear in this video. I also don't quite understand exactly what is going on here. I'm not certain but I suspect you are getting 9 amps through your circuit because even though you have no virtually no resistance on your circuit you are getting resistance between the ground rod for your experiment and the ground rod for your electrical system giving you X amps depending on how resistive the dirt is in that particular location using 120V. Would this same thing happen if your testing ground rod was in a theoretical void completely isolated from the rest of the earth but still driven into a similar mass? Thanks for reading if you bothered! and Thanks for replies in advanced if someone does happen to bother ;)
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
I bothered! Your experience with large electrical systems is impressive and I appreciate you taking the time to comment! You are correct of course that if the ground rod was part of my grounding system and thus connected to the main panel the circuit would have tripped. What I am trying to communicate is that just having a "ground rod" is not what makes a system safe. It's just as if not more important to make sure that every aspect of your grounding system is ultimately bonded to the neutral in the main panel. Thanks again for your comment and keep up the good work!
@miguelac68723 жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Lets say that the neutral and ground cables are bonded toguether at the main panel. Now if a hot wire makes direct contact with the ground wire conductor What would happen? Does it cause a short circuit?
@harrymiller5133 жыл бұрын
@@miguelac6872 yes.
@davidstrens Жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminSahlstrom I am studying Level 1 electrical right now and the current subject is grounding. I've learned a lot from watching your videos. I was wondering if I could ask a question about your reply to the comment above, did I understand correctly, the 9 amps are flowing from the ground rod for your experiment to the ground rod for your electrical system? The 9 coulombs per second are not just flowing into the earth, never to be seen again?
@BenjaminSahlstrom Жыл бұрын
@@davidstrens That is correct! Current is flowing from the ground rod I drove back to it's "source" which is the neutral/ground (since they are bonded) via the earth ground that is connected to my panel. Technically current could also be traveling back through other grounding electrodes throughout the electrical system wherever they are since they are also bonded to the neutral at some point.
@ronaldwprovo55302 жыл бұрын
When I first started wiring farm houses I found they ran one wire to the barn and to their well. Their recepticals were two prong instead of three. When they reversed the prongs, they changed polarity. They would get shocks from microphones, water faucets, and lamps.
@bobniles19284 жыл бұрын
To trip the 20 amp breaker the ground would have to be 6 ohms or less. Very few location have ground even close to that number.
@MandrewP4 жыл бұрын
Actually you would need 3 ohms or less - there are two ground rods in series - one going down into the ground and another on coming back up.
@MrSummitville3 жыл бұрын
@@MandrewP He is saying less than 6 Ohms, as measured BETWEEN the two ground Rods ...
@HectorideMoto3 жыл бұрын
I've done this before as well decades ago last 2006. Explaining to my electrical students.
@1320crusier3 жыл бұрын
Ive actually been tagged in the eye with molten slag. Managed to get under my welding helmet. That one hurt. Im ok with no lasting effects but I got a bit lucky.
@louf71783 жыл бұрын
Things I knew, forgot and saw in practice. Very good video. Especially demonstrative for downed power lines.
@HoosierRallyMaster4 жыл бұрын
As long as you have a sacrificial GFCI breaker, you should show what happens if the neutral wire is not installed. Or even if it is incorrectly connected to a ground wire ;)
@oliverkalani92473 жыл бұрын
Yo Benji! We appreciate the content and your style to teach us what your research has proved thus far. Your videos are enlightening. Thanks for the spark Cap!
@jasonwember99274 жыл бұрын
I knew it wouldn't the breaker, but was suprized at the 10 amps. I wouldn't have thought 15ft of dirt would conduct that many amps.
@Jon-hx7pe4 жыл бұрын
soil has lots of conductive moisture in it
@MandrewP4 жыл бұрын
The earth has VERY low resistance but it is the connection to the earth that is hard to make low resistance.
@fromagefrizzbizz93773 жыл бұрын
@@MandrewP the us electrical code used to (maybe still is) require you to test your ground rod with an ohm meter, and if it was less than 8 (barely enough to trip a 15A breaker, and not anything larger) you installed another rod. The resistance to ground varies a lot with soil and moisture content even from one day to the next. Which is why local and national standards tend to prefer grounding plates and UFER grounds (buried in poured concrete foundations) these days. At least the electrode surface area is far larger...
@Igleciacristiana2 жыл бұрын
I was quite sure the circuit breaker would not activate because of what we did as teenagers. In the 50’’s- 60’s, we used to catch night crawlers for fishing by wetting an area of ground with some water. After 15-20 minutes we would take an insulated metal rod, like a screwdriver and wrap one wire to it. We would then connect it to an extension cord plugged into an outlet. The metal rod was pushed into the middle of the area that had been wet down earlier and then the extension cord was plugged into the outlet. Within a minute or so, the worms would crawl out of their holes. Then we would unplug the cord and catch the worms. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! Benjamin, I am sure you wouldn’t even think about pouring water around that copper rod ;) In all seriousness, that was a really dangerous thing we did and would be the first to tell anyone NOT to try it.
@googacct4 жыл бұрын
Nice demonstration. The office I work at(though not right now) I have often noticed nightcrawlers coming out of the ground after it rained. I had assumed they came out either to escape the water or maybe due to disease. After the comments about nightcrawlers coming out after running a current through the ground, I have to wonder if there is some current from another source that is passinng through when the ground gets wet. When I am at the office next time, I may have to bring my multimeter with me and see if there is any voltage difference
@cphank1512 жыл бұрын
You will likely find voltages.
@cphank1512 жыл бұрын
Using a battery powered, ungrounded oscilloscope would be interesting. You may find RF currents in addition to power line AC frequency.
@jeffreylonigro13822 жыл бұрын
Ben, love the theory stuff. I actually knew this wouldn’t trip a non-gfi/afi breaker courtesy of Mike Holt. I have an idea for you to possibly make a video. There is usually current on the “off” traveler in a 3-way switch. It can range from 15 up to 40 volts. It is caused by capacitive coupling. You should check it out and delve into it.
@cphank1512 жыл бұрын
Some LED light bulbs continue to burn dimly in such a situation when controlled by 3 way switches. These don't need much voltage or current to do this.
@edwardlincoln12594 жыл бұрын
Please Add ohms law into some of the conversation particularly with ground rod resistance
@lorenzo42p3 жыл бұрын
can we also talk about an infinite grid of resistors?
@ThingEngineer3 жыл бұрын
Dude, my curious mind has always wanted to do this but I never have. Thank you for sharing! The truth hertz!
@andrewmattiewalter4 жыл бұрын
So how far from the gradient can you be and still energize a light bulb?
@brianleeper57374 жыл бұрын
I sort of doubt that you'll get enough current from a multimeter probe to get enough current to light a bulb. Consider how much surface area a ground rod has compared to a multimeter probe. Then consider that the amount of surface area is proportional to the current flow. He should have tested the available current. Just because a meter says you have voltage doesn't mean that you have enough current available to do anything. These meters have very high input impedance.
@braincrackz4 жыл бұрын
its good that i found your channel.i do not belong to the 95% of people because i love what you do.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Awesome! Thank you! I really appreciate it.
@illestofdemall134 жыл бұрын
This partially explains the difference between bonding and grounding.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
I need to make a video dedicated to that subject.
@V21IC4 жыл бұрын
Bonding protects people by sending fault current back to the Neutral at circuit breaker panel via the ground wiring. Grounding, protects things and people by creating and equipontencial voltage of 0V along components and placing a path to bleed extra high atmospheric currents to Ground/grounding electrodes via the ground wiring. Both concept has a common element - Ground.
@illestofdemall134 жыл бұрын
@@V21IC Yes sir
@illestofdemall134 жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminSahlstrom That would be cool. So many people don't know about that.
@miguelac68723 жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Lets say that the neutral and ground cables are bonded toguether at the main panel. Now if a hot wire makes direct contact with the ground wire conductor What would happen? Does it cause a short circuit?
@0778drz1103 жыл бұрын
This video is a great example of the importance of GFCI protection
@ericwillman52914 жыл бұрын
"dirty electricity". This is what our electric providers do here in Wisconsin. They use the earth as a return neutral wire because our grid has a grossly inferior neutral wire due to harmonics degrading our return portion of the grid. Read Dr. Sam Milham'd book Dirty Electricity.
@BenjaminSahlstrom4 жыл бұрын
Crazy stuff! I believe that is part of why I was detecting current on my neutral in one of my previous videos. Basically I was picking up "primary neutral current" according to Mike Holt.
@inothome4 жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Measure the current on your ground coming from the house when you do this to see is there is a good ground at the transformer. You should see very little change in current from your house ground. Since the path of least resistance will be from that rod you drove to the transformer ground that is closer. If there is a very noticeable change in current from your house ground then that transformer is not properly grounded at the transformer base and is relying on the grounds near your house. Won't be a big deal until you get a close lightning strike and it blows that ground to pieces. Mentioned that on the other video too.
@dansmith27244 жыл бұрын
@@BenjaminSahlstrom you have a center tap neutral. In theory it should be zero but a variety of factors such as minute differences in wire thickness or length of wires in the coil can create an electrical potential. That's likely what you're measuring.
@dansmith27244 жыл бұрын
I may be wrong. Search Google for a page titled "Causes, Concerns and Remediation of Stray Voltages on Distribution Systems" they talk about potential sources. However you are assuming the electricity is coming from the center tap (as was I) and this article seems to say that the earth could have some electrical potential. I would measure the voltage of your neutral to ground with your bonding screw removed outside. The +/- should tell you the direction the electricity is traveling indicating which has the lower potential, ie which is the better ground.
@inothome4 жыл бұрын
@@dansmith2724 In reference to the other video with the ground current, yes it should be a center tapped neutral that should also be bonded to ground and the system neutral at the transformer. If the system neutral is bad (or a single wire earth return) and the ground at the transformer isn't there or not connected solidly, his house grounds could be the source for the neutral / ground for the transformer itself. Highly unlikely, but if that is the case and you go and lift a bond or the ground to the transformer, one side of that lifted ground will become the same voltage as the primary feeding the transformer. Same as like with an open neutral in house wiring becomes 120VAC on one side of the broken neutral. Again, highly unlikely that there is a missing ground and a bad system neutral on the transformer, but it has happened and could be something as simple as a loose primary neutral connection. He can redo his experiment in this video and see if there is a corresponding increase in current coming from his house grounds. Which is safer than lifting bonds or grounds. Not sure how you would use a voltmeter to determine the voltage direction with AC. DC, yes, AC no. You would need to compare the phase angle between the voltage and current to determine the direction of current flow.
@RolandTemple Жыл бұрын
I understand there are different delay times in these breakers, something like 5 secs for arc fault, 2 secs for load and immediate for ground fault. Since your neutral and ground are one in this box you bypassed the ground fault circuit in this breaker and the overload protection took over, which is why you got the welding results you did. You effectively touched your live to neutral not ground.