Power comes in the active and goes out the neutral.
The active has protection on it that causes it to stop the electricity if something goes wrong.
If the active burns off inside an appliance it doesn't have the neutral to take electricity away anymore, it becomes dangerous and can cause the appliance to give you a shock.
The ground wire is connected to the casing of the appliance so that if the above happens, the electricity now has something to take it away and trigger the protection to stop the electricity.
tevumi t1_jdpz09m wrote
Reply to eli5 Earth, Neutral and Live by strongcrabclaw
Power comes in the active and goes out the neutral.
The active has protection on it that causes it to stop the electricity if something goes wrong.
If the active burns off inside an appliance it doesn't have the neutral to take electricity away anymore, it becomes dangerous and can cause the appliance to give you a shock.
The ground wire is connected to the casing of the appliance so that if the above happens, the electricity now has something to take it away and trigger the protection to stop the electricity.