WHy neutral to ground trips when neutral touches the ground

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WHy neutral to ground trips when neutral touches the ground..

Answer / ravi

The neutral conductor is a current carrying conductor,
effectively the power return for each of the hot conductors
in a circuit.
The ground conductor is not intended to pass current except
in a fault condition, and then only long enough to trip the
protective device. It is typically connected to the frame
of an appliance, so that if a hot conductor were to break
inside the appliance and touch the frame, the protective
device would trip, instead of the frame becoming hot - an
electrocution hazard.

Neutral and Ground are connected together at the
distribution panel, but since that is a single point, there
should still be no current on ground.

In the event that a current path to ground were created,
such as touching a hot pin while touching a faucet, an
electrocution could result unless there is a GFCI (Ground
Fault Current Interrupter) in the circuit. This device
checks that the current on the neutral return exactly
matches the current on the hot supply, with imbalance
representing a ground fault. (Kirchoff's Current Law: The
current at all points in a loop is the same, or the sum of
the currents at a node is zero.)