You can see the 12 gauge (AWG) bare wire on the pole transformer picture I posted above. It grounds ("earths" for those south of the equator) the neutral (center tap of the transformer) and is the return for the high voltage side.
The power is brought into the house through a main disconnect and enters the circuit breaker panel (I'm guessing that our "circuit breaker panel" is the same as your "switchboard", poor mystic) where it goes through the main circuit breaker. Outside the house, a grounding rod is driven into the ground for the electrical service's potential reference. This rod is typically 6-8 feet long and is usually a 3/4" diameter bar of copper. If you measure your ground rod's resistance via e.g. the fall of potential method, you should find it is an ohm or less to ground.
This ground rod is connected to the neutral at one and only one point in the circuit breaker panel. This important step ensures the neutral lines are essentially at ground potential (they might be a few mV to a few volts AC off ground when a heavy current is flowing in them due to the wire's resistance). Then, in a typical outlet box or light box, there are three conductors: the hot lead (120 VAC), the neutral lead, and the ground conductor. Two of these three conductors are at ground potential and thus should never be a shock hazard unless there's a fault or wiring mistake.
Note there is no grounded conductor run from the pole/transformer to the house.
The name Daddles was the name of a duck my family had when I was a kid. Our human-imprinted duck that runs around our yard is also named Daddles. So it refers to a duck. There's no danger of me ever having an avatar or a signature.
The power is brought into the house through a main disconnect and enters the circuit breaker panel (I'm guessing that our "circuit breaker panel" is the same as your "switchboard", poor mystic) where it goes through the main circuit breaker. Outside the house, a grounding rod is driven into the ground for the electrical service's potential reference. This rod is typically 6-8 feet long and is usually a 3/4" diameter bar of copper. If you measure your ground rod's resistance via e.g. the fall of potential method, you should find it is an ohm or less to ground.
This ground rod is connected to the neutral at one and only one point in the circuit breaker panel. This important step ensures the neutral lines are essentially at ground potential (they might be a few mV to a few volts AC off ground when a heavy current is flowing in them due to the wire's resistance). Then, in a typical outlet box or light box, there are three conductors: the hot lead (120 VAC), the neutral lead, and the ground conductor. Two of these three conductors are at ground potential and thus should never be a shock hazard unless there's a fault or wiring mistake.
Note there is no grounded conductor run from the pole/transformer to the house.
The name Daddles was the name of a duck my family had when I was a kid. Our human-imprinted duck that runs around our yard is also named Daddles. So it refers to a duck. There's no danger of me ever having an avatar or a signature.
