A ground fault is a type of fault in which the unintentional pathway of the straying electrical current flows directly to the earth to the ground.
Grounding connectors electrical power to earth true or false.
Electrical circuits may be connected to ground earth for several reasons.
Provides a path for surges in your power systems conducting electrical energy to earth to prevent arcing heating or an explosion during a lighting strike.
This grounding system provides a path of least resistance for electricity to follow back to ground should a break in the wiring system allow electricity to leak out of the preferred system of black and white circuit wires.
Exposed metal parts of electrical equipment are connected to ground so that failures of internal insulation will trigger protective mechanisms such as fuses or circuit breakers in the circuit to remove power from the device.
Here too the circuit is short in that it has bypassed the circuit wiring so a ground fault can technically be defined as one type of short circuit.
Within a building or single facility there is only one common ground for all of the electrical systems.
The bare copper grounding wires terminate in a grounding bar in your main service panel and that grounding bar is in turn connected to a grounding rod driven deep into the earth outside your home.