Don’t Call It Ground, Call It Return

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

If you’ve studied electrical or computer engineering, or have just read an electronics schematic, circuit diagram, or other application notes, you've likely seen the term “Ground,” often abbreviated GND. This is used in school and during the teaching of electronics circuit analysis to indicate a reference or zero-voltage node for circuit analysis. It is also taught that there is no current in GND since the voltage is zero. These are assumptions made for the purpose of simplifying the introduction to circuit analysis.

Therefore, GND has taken on a legendary or mythical status as the place where noise disappears into the ether: no current flows, and no voltage exists. These are all erroneous statements.

Current must always flow in a loop, and since all traces on a PCB act as transmission lines, it follows that GND is the path used to return the current generated by the source and sent to the load, then back to the source. It also follows that the polarity of the current flowing in the GND path is approximately equal to the magnitude and opposite to the polarity of the current flowing in the transmission line from the source to the load.

In reality, the net we call ground (GND) is, actually, just the reference net that all other nets are referenced with respect to. To emphasize the true nature of this net, we should use the term “Return” (RTN) instead of GND in our circuit designs.

I believe the use of “ground” in early electronics circuits comes from the telegraph days, when telegraph wire was run on the poles between the different telegraph stations. The “ground” was then wired to a copper or other conductive rod sunk into the actual ground about 4 to 6 feet. This created a transmission line loop between the signal wire on the pole and the earth beneath it.

To continue reading this article, which originally appeared in the March 2026 edition of I-Connect007 Magazine, click here.