grounding

Grounding, in electrical engineering, is the practice of connecting circuits and equipment to the earth through a conductor. The purpose is safety and stability: a grounded system provides a low-impedance path for fault currents, helps stabilize voltage, and enables protective devices to operate correctly. A grounding conductor connects to a grounding electrode, such as a rod driven into the soil, and to the equipment’s chassis. Some systems separate protective grounding from neutral grounding; in many buildings the neutral and ground are bonded at a single point, while in others they are isolated. Grounding systems reduce shock hazards, aid fault clearing, and minimize electrical noise.

Grounding, in psychology, refers to techniques that help a person reorient to the present moment and bodily awareness, often to counteract anxiety, panic, or dissociation. Common methods include naming objects in the environment, focusing on sensory input, controlled breathing, or physical grounding such as touching a cold surface. Grounding exercises can improve a sense of safety, calm, and agency, and are used in crisis intervention, trauma therapy, or stress management.

In philosophy, grounding is a metaphysical relation in which facts, properties, or events obtain in virtue of more fundamental bases. It is a way of explaining why something is the case, without asserting causal processes. The precise formulation varies across theories, but grounding is typically treated as a non-causal, a priori relation that underlies dependency among propositions or realities.

In everyday language, grounding also denotes a disciplinary measure in which a person, usually a child or teenager, is restricted from activities or privileges.