They mean the same thing, a current to ground/earth that shouldn't exist in the circuit.
There is such a thing as a three phase to earth fault, so maybe this is what you mean by a "balanced earth fault". I don't believe any earth or ground currents would flow in this case. A restricted earth fault is a typical phase to earth fault, where the zone of protection is restricted to a specific area, such as around a transformer. "Restricted" is referring to the protection method, not what is actually going on with the currents and voltages.
Neutral-earthing reactors or Neutral grounding reactors are connected between the neutral of a power system and earth to limit the line-to-earth current to a desired value under system earth fault conditions.
Earth leakage relays are instantaneous tripping relays where as earth fault relays have the option of time and ampere setting i.e. for a setted ampere the circuit breaker will be tripped off after the setted time (in second).
The ground earth wire serves two purposes: To trip the protection as quickly as possible if theres an out of balanced current or a fault to earth. and to bring the user to the same potential to the earth if there is a fault and the protection doesnt trip. that way because you are at the same potential as earth you will not get electrocuted.
An "earth fault relay" is a bit ambiguous. A relay used in the power system to detect neutral or ground faults measure the vector difference of the three phase power, or measure the neutral current directly. If current is above a set trip point, the relay will operate. If you are referring to GFCI's, they effectively measure the current flowing in and the current flowing out on the two "hot" wires, and if these do not cancel each other out, then the GFCI will trip. This is because if current in does not equal current out, then some current must be flowing out a different way (to ground!).
a fault is a large crack in the earth. a fold is when the ground gets bent.
There is no difference. The definition of fault is precisely: a crack in the Earth's crust.
difference in current between hot and neutral conductors
There is such a thing as a three phase to earth fault, so maybe this is what you mean by a "balanced earth fault". I don't believe any earth or ground currents would flow in this case. A restricted earth fault is a typical phase to earth fault, where the zone of protection is restricted to a specific area, such as around a transformer. "Restricted" is referring to the protection method, not what is actually going on with the currents and voltages.
The function of a neutral earth resistor is to limit any fault current resulting from fault between a line conductor and earth.
Fault lines are simply where cracks appear in the earth's crust from the movement of the plates.
Neutral-earthing reactors or Neutral grounding reactors are connected between the neutral of a power system and earth to limit the line-to-earth current to a desired value under system earth fault conditions.
It is the same
A three-phase symmetrical fault exists when all three line conductors are short-circuited, sometimes to earth (ground). An unsymmetrical fault occurs when only one or two of the three lines are involved.
A fault is the zone where two tectonic plates meet. An earthquake is vibration through the earth caused when the two plates on a fault line slide past each other.
Faults are actually the reason earthquakes start. A fault is two Techtonic Platesrubbing against each other, creating tension and stress. When thetension and stress overcomes the strength of the fault, the two plates slip/move,causing the ground to move in various ways, which is also called an earthquake.Techtonic Plates: plates made up of the earths crust that are moving along alayer of magma inside the earth,called the mantle.
Earth leakage relays are instantaneous tripping relays where as earth fault relays have the option of time and ampere setting i.e. for a setted ampere the circuit breaker will be tripped off after the setted time (in second).