For an RCCB (Residual Current Circuit Breaker) to function, the currents in the active and neutral must be unbalanced - usually by around 30mA which is getting towards the lethal current for humans.A human will get a shock if body parts are touching the live and neutral simultaneously. When you use an earthed system, current flowing via earth (which is effectively connected to Neutral but NOT via the RCCB) does not go through the RCCB and so is detected and the breaker trips and removes power from the circuit.I found a video here that explains how they work. It's not brilliant - spelling and pronunciation errors - but it's not bad. The diagram at the opening is very good, better than the other ones.There's another video Here which explains the workings a bit better.The reason for RCCBs is that the mains supply is earthed, so if you touch a live wire then a current will flow through you to earth. If you use an inverter or an isolating transformer, that is not earthed, you would be able to touch the live wire without much current flowing through you. For this reason repair shops and some design labs use isolating transformers in their power supply. But I repeat, if you get your body between live and neutral, you'll still get a shock. RCCDs are also called RCDs (Residual Current Devices) or ELCBs (earth Leakage Circuit Breakers).