Questions for Electrical Engineers regarding power system : What's the difference between NEUTRAL & GROUNDING?

Question

We use the terms "neutral point" and "grounding point" in power system analysis. What are the difference between these two?

Answer 1

The neutral is defined as the return path of your typical single phase circuit.  ground is a separate system, isolated from your hot and neutral and designated as primarily as a means of preventing stray voltage.

Answer 2

they are both a return path for current.

If we dumb it down and use the water analogy

the hot is the faucet the drain is the neutral and the ground is the a floor drain....

So you can see the sink drain and a floor drain seem to do the same thing but the floor drain is only going to see water if the system is not running properly

In much the same way the equipment grounding conductor will only get involved in circuit that is experiencing some kind of fault

The neutral point and ground point simply refer to the place in the power system,,, generator, transformer etc. where the connection for these wires are made

Many electrical engineers will find fault with my answer because it is an over simplification,,,,

I am a Master electrician and this is the best way i know of to get the idea across to a regular person that knows little to no electrical theory

Answer 3

AC lines have a live blade, neutral blade, and the third round prong is ground.

The electricity flows back and forth between the live and neutral blades. The ground blade is typically connected to the housing of a device to prevent injury if the AC gets shorted to the case. It is not normally part of the circuit. The ground is physically connected to the earth and gives the AC an alternate path rather than through your body.

In a DC circuit, ground means something different. The electricity flows between ground and positive rail. In DC circuits, ground is also known as "source."

I hope that is helpful, even though I'm not an electrical engineer.