Groundable Point

Guest

Just came out of a meeting and now I'm confused. Isn't the term 'ground' also refers to 'groundable point'? If no, what's the difference? My point is, the groundable point should be connecting to ground, right? So they should be the same, right?

Grounded

Guest

Hi. To answer your question, sometimes it is sometimes it is not. A circuit can have different "ground" points. In the early days of electronics and electricity where circuits were not that complex, the ground point is usually referred to as the reference -- the earth ground. As circuits became complex, different designers have made different ground reference -- perhaps you may have heard of the earth ground, digital ground, signal ground, analog ground, AC ground, etc. Therefore, depending on your circuit, the ground may not be or may be the groundable point. If your circuit is complex and you have both digital and analog circuits that is quite sensitive, you tend to create different ground points one for the digital and one for analog to somehow "isolate" them. if you have a high sensitivity audio circuit for example, you may want to separate the ground point of the signal before at the pre-amp stage from the signals at the output stage. Same with circuits with different frequencies, you may separate the ground point of the low frequency and the high frequency circuits.

maybe we can answer you better if you will pinpoint some of the actual topics(circuits) you've been discussing.

Guest

Thanks, Panzer. I get what you're saying about circuits. Actually, what we're talking about is ESD grounding. I'm just looking for simple definition of the term "groundable point." Thanks anyway.

Grounded

Joined: 20 Jun 2026 Posts: 20

A ground is defined by ESDA as a conducting connection between earth (which is the zero potential reference) and a circuit or equipment. On the other hand, a groundable point is a designated connection used in an ESD protective system that is used to accomodate the connection between your equipment and ground. So ground is the connection to earth per se, and groundable point is the means for that connection.

Example of Ground: 3rd wire on your AC outlet
Example of Groundable Point: that jack where you insert your wrist strap that's connected to the 3rd wire on your AC outlet

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