Re: Ground loop boogieman --thanks

Thanks Alan (and all the rest who responded) ... I feel much
better now!

Ken Jenkins
kjenkins@...

>> Ground loop boogieman ... can someone explain this in some
>> detail or point me to a link that does?
>>
>> I think I know basically - a "ground loop" is where you have two
>> different return paths for your current but they ain't both
>> at the exactly the same potential therefore .... problems,
>> current flowing in a direction it should not be ... but
>> I'd like to understand this (.... better ... or maybe
>> "at all" if the above sounds offbase).
>
> "Ground loop" is probably the most incorrectly used phrase in all of
> electronics.
>
> Ground loops are almost never BAD things, and frequently are GOOD
> things.
>
> The "ground problem" is basically this. Wire is not a pure thing, but
> always has resistance ( and inductance and capacitance, but for this
> discussion, I'll lump them all together and talk about resistance
> alone ).
>
> Current flowing through a resistor causes a voltage drop, hence current
> flowing through a wire causes a voltage drop.

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>
> Alan Rothenbush | The Spartans do not ask the number of the
> Academic Computing Services | enemy, only where they are.
> Simon Fraser University |
> Burnaby, B.C., Canada | Agix of Sparta