Virtual ground

Imagine you are playing a game of tag, but instead of running around outside, you are running around inside your house. You don't want to run into any walls or furniture, so you need to be careful and stay inside the area where you can move freely without hitting anything. This area is like a playground, or a space where you can play without worrying about getting hurt.

In electronics, we also have playgrounds or spaces where electrical signals can move freely without crashing into anything. These spaces are called circuits, and they can be made up of different parts like wires, resistors, capacitors, and transistors.

Sometimes, we need to create a playground, or a space where electrical signals can move freely, but we don't have a lot of room. This can happen when we are designing small electronic devices, like a calculator or a phone. In these cases, we can create a virtual playground or a virtual ground.

A virtual ground is like a pretend playground or a pretend space where electrical signals can move freely. It's created by using a special type of electronic component called an op-amp. An op-amp is like a super powered battery that can make signals bigger or smaller, depending on what we want.

When we use an op-amp to create a virtual ground, we are tricking the electrical signals into thinking they are playing in a real playground. The op-amp takes in a signal and makes it bigger or smaller, depending on the voltage we want for the virtual ground. This voltage creates a pretend playground, or a space where the electrical signals can move freely without hitting anything.

So, just like how you need a playground to play tag without hitting anything, electronics also need a space where signals can move freely without crashing into anything. And when we don't have enough space, we can create a virtual ground, which is like a pretend playground, to make sure the signals stay safe and don't break anything.