Ground rod question

SteveB · 2008-05-01T07:45:54+00:00

Today, a friend called me who was doing a project. They had a copper coated steel rod about 5/8" dia. that was to be used as a ground rod for electrical. They had no means of bending it, as it had to make a couple of three doglegs to get around concrete. I told him that heating it would melt the copper, and did not know if the inspector would pass it with the copper gone. He said that was what the inspector told him to do. We'll see. If it works, okay, if it doesn't, I'll set up a jig and bend it cold.Now to the point. As I heated the copper, I noticed a beautiful color change. Like peacock colors. Would it be possible to dissolve copper into a solution, possibly using acid or electrolysis, then have the copper be deposited on metal sheeting so that it could be heated again to get the iridescent hues?I've read a lot about electrolytic removal of rust, and it seems pretty straightforward. This would be (?) a two step process. I'm going to Google up on it. Anyone ever try it?Steve

May 01, 2008 25 Replies

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Martin H. Eastburn 18 years ago

Actually Ed is not far off but missed himself.

Current density for all points on a cross section of A is j=i/A

However since the resistivity of material varies greatly, the current flows in the copper.

The skin is the thin plating on the steel rod that every house has pounded into the ground near the power meter.

What messes up the even density in a solid copper rod (we don't have) is that of the electromagnetic field that drives the current outward. So the real density is loaded at the outer edges and this process really takes place in massive form in RF.

TV's are fed by an antenna. The antenna is fed by a air core coax. The central wire is a tube. No reason for using copper that electrons won't go. This makes the coax a little more flexible.

28 cycles that was intended to be used on Navy ships - with large iron transformers acting as ballast actually tunnels to the center of the conductor. An arm placed across two power posts will have the marrow burnt out. The Navy aborted the experiments.

Martin

Mart>> >>

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Martin H. Eastburn 18 years ago

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SteveB 18 years ago

In my case, a ground rod required next to the incoming 500Amp (large building) electrical service.

Steve

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Bruce L. Bergman 18 years ago

Because they would create a tripping hazard, and you are not supposed to have a ground like that right in front of the panel where you would make contact while resetting a breaker.

Simple solution - bury the conduit to the ground rod off to one side a few feet, and put the clamp below grade in a plastic or concrete handhole. You can order it with "Ground Rod" on the cover.

And if they ever pave the area, they just raise the handhole up a bit to sit at finished grade, and then it's always accessible.

NOTE: On new homes they just make a "UFER Ground" bond to the steel in the footing. Much neater, as it's all hidden in the wall.

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Bruce in Bangkok 18 years ago

Just had a talk with an Australian "Sparky", a licensed professional electrician for probably 50 years. He tells me that according to Australian code the ground to any building entrance (I'm using U.S. terminology here) is the same size wire according to Australian code. He gave me the wire code but as it is not AWG or metric I have no idea what the actual size is, other then he said it was larger then normal wiring in the building.

Bruce-in-Bangkok (correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)

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