Editing Virtual ground (section)

== Applications ==

[[Voltage]] is a differential quantity, which appears between two points. In order to deal only with a voltage (an [[electrical potential]]) of a single point, the second point has to be connected to a reference point ([[Ground (electricity)|ground]]). Usually, the power supply terminals serve as steady grounds; when the internal points of compound power sources are accessible, they can also serve as real grounds.

If there are no accessible source internal points, external circuit points with steady voltage relative to the source terminals can serve as artificial ''virtual grounds''. Such a point has to have steady potential, which does not vary when a load is attached.<ref>[http://tangentsoft.net/elec/vgrounds.html Virtual Ground Circuits]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/echeeve1/Ref/SingleSupply/SingleSupply.html |title=Single Supply Op Amps |access-date=2007-02-04 |archive-date=2020-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725011334/http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/echeeve1/Ref/SingleSupply/SingleSupply.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.analog.com/library/analogDialogue/archives/29-3/consider.html Designing Single Supply, Low-Power Systems]</ref>