Circuit with just a battery and ground

[dimpledur]

What would happen if you just hook up a battery to itself, and a ground? I understand resistance is negligible in wires when there are other resistors, however, this doesn't seem to be the case when this occurs. But what happens? Battery drains extremely fast ?

 

[gneill]

Can you be more specific about the hookup? Where does the ground come in?

 

[dimpledur]

Positive terminal to the wire, to the ground, then back to the negative terminal. All of my teachers circuits have grounds in the diagram thus far.

 

[dimpledur]

Typically this would cause a short circuit, correct? However, does the ground prevent?

 

[gneill]

Typically this would cause a short circuit, correct? However, does the ground prevent?

The ground here serves merely as a reference for identifying a common place to measure circuit voltages from. It doesn't affect the operation of the circuit.

Yes, you've got what is essentially a short circuit. I say essentially because real wires have some small amount of resistance (it goes as the length of the wire and inversely as the cross sectional area of the wire -- look up resistivity).

Depending upon the battery voltage and its internal resistance, a good deal of current may flow through the wire. The wire will get hot (perhaps hot enough to melt its insulation as well as the metal itself -- it may even vaporize a portion of the wire: BANG!). The battery will certainly be drained quickly.