The physical body of your DC Equipment is always your GROUND. This GROUND is where you also connect your -VE.
It depends on the equipment. The problems can be anything from a risk of electrical shock to semiconductor failure.
The electrode typically used as a ground reference in electrical circuits is the earth ground electrode.
As the neutral point of an electrical supply system is often connected to earth ground, ground and neutral are closely related. Under certain conditions, a conductor used to connect to a system neutral is also used for grounding (earthing) of equipment and structures. Current carried on a grounding conductor can result in objectionable or dangerous voltages appearing on equipment enclosures, so the installation of grounding conductors and neutral conductors is carefully defined in electrical regulations. Where a neutral conductor is used also to connect equipment enclosures to earth, care must be taken that the neutral conductor never rises to a high voltage with respect to local ground.
In some types of electronic design you may have Digital circuits also called Logic Circuits and Analog circuits. Each circuit may have separate power and ground lines. So you may see the notation on a schematic for Logic Ground or Analog ground.
The purpose of the AC ground wire in electrical circuits is to provide a safe path for excess electrical current to flow to the ground, preventing electric shock and protecting against electrical fires.
Yes, the grounding of equipment is for safety reasons not operational reasons. By grounding equipment, the conductor, if the equipment develops a short circuit to ground, supplies a low impedance return to the distribution panel where is is sensed by the circuits breaker. Once the breaker senses this short circuit current it will trip the circuit open.
A live wire coming in contact with a ground.
Splice
If one terminal of a battery is connected to the frame of the equipment in which it's used, the connection is generally made with the ground, and this is called a ground connection. It refers to the reference point from which all other electrical voltages are measured.
Green is the usual colour that represents ground in electrical equipment.
Short circuits.