ALTERNATING CURRENT

After reading this section you will be able to do the following:

Define what AC stands for and what it means.
Explain how AC is created and delivered to different places.
Discuss the differences between AC and DC.
AC is short for alternating current. This means that the direction of
current flowing in a circuit is constantly being reversed back and forth.
This is done with any type of AC current/voltage source.
The electrical current in your house is alternating current. This comes
from power plants that are operated by the electric company. Those big
wires you see stretching across the countryside are carrying AC current
from the power plants to the loads, which are in our homes and
businesses. The direction of current is switching back and forth 60 times
each second.
This is a series circuit using an AC source of electricity. Notice that the
light bulb still lights but the electron current is constantly reversing
directions. The change in direction of the current flow happens so fast
that the light bulb does not have a chance to stop glowing. The light bulb
does not care if it is using DC or AC current. The circuit is delivering
energy to the light bulb from the source, which, in this case, is a power
plant.
Review
1. AC, or alternating current means the electrical current is
alternating directions in a repetitive pattern.

2. AC is created by generators in power plants, and other sources. This

AC current is delivered to our homes and businesses by the power
lines we see everywhere.
3. The frequency of repetition of this current is 60 Hertz. This means
the direction of the current changes sixty times every second.
DIRECT CURRENT
After reading this section you will be able to do the following:
Explain what DC stands for and what it means.
Define what a good source of DC would be.
Now that we have a fairly good understanding of basic electricity terms
and concepts, let's take a closer look at some more details of the
electrical current itself.
The battery we have been using for a current/voltage source generates
direct current, which simply means the current flows in only one direction.
the circuit, work is being done.
We can see that work is being done in this circuit because it lights the light bulb.
The actual amount of electrons that are flowing is determined by the type and size
of the battery as well as by the size and type of the light bulb. We could reverse
the polarity of the battery by switching the contacts (wires), and the current
would flow in the opposite direction and the bulb would still light.
AS LONG AS ELECTRONS ARE FLOWING THROUGH THE

ATOMS of

Either way the battery is connected to the circuit, current can only flow in one
direction. Direct current (DC) can also be generated by means other than
batteries. Solar cells, fuel cells, and even some types of generators can provide DC
current.

DC, or direct current means the electrical current is flowing in only

one direction in a circuit.
1. Batteries are a good source of direct current (DC).

In electricity, alternating current (AC) occurs when charge carriers in a conductor

or semiconductor periodically reverse their direction of movement. Household utility
current in most countries is AC with a frequency of 60hertz (60 complete cycles per
second), although in some countries it is 50 Hz. The radio-frequency (RF) current in
antennas and transmission lines is another example of AC.
An AC waveform can be sinusoidal, square, or sawtooth-shaped. Some AC
waveforms are irregular or complicated. An example of sine-wave AC is common
household utility current (in the ideal case). Square or sawtooth waves are produced
by certain types of electronic oscillators, and by a low-end uninterruptible power
supply (UPS) when it is operating from its battery. Irregular AC waves are produced
by audio amplifiers that deal with analog voice signals and/or music.
The voltage of an AC power source can be easily changed by means of a power
transformer. This allows the voltage to be stepped up (increased) for transmission and
distribution. High-voltage transmission is more efficient than low-voltage
transmission over long distances, because the loss caused by
conductor resistance decreases as the voltage increases.
The voltage of an AC power source changes from instant to instant in time.
The effective voltage of an AC utility power source is usually considered to be the DC
voltage that would produce the same power dissipation as heat assuming a pure
resistance. The effective voltage for a sine wave is not the same as the peak voltage .
To obtain effective voltage from peak voltage, multiply by 0.707. To obtain peak
voltage from effective voltage, multiply by 1.414. For example, if an AC power
source has an effective voltage of 117 V, typical of a household in the United States,
the peak voltage is 165 V.

It is understandable why most people cannot visualize what is happening inside common conductors and cables;
even trying to explain that something is moving through copper, a metal, goes against common sense. At the most
basic level electricity is not all that different from water, hence its basic terms are fairly easy to understand if you
compare an electric circuit to a system of water pipes. The basic difference between water and electricity is that water
will fill anything if it somehow manages to burst out of the pipes, while electricity needs a conductor to send electrons
to. By visualizing a model system of pipes most people will understand several terms more easily.

Voltage = Pressure - Voltage is pretty much the "pressure" of the electrons and indicates how strongly and quickly
they move through the conductors (cables). Voltage and pressure are equal by many respects, including the
pipe/cable strength; too much pressure would burst a pipe, too high a voltage would destroy or ignore a cable's
shielding.
Current = Flow - Current is the "flow rate" of electrons, indicating how many electrons move through a cable. The
higher the current, the more electrons move through the cables. Much like large quantities of water require thicker
pipes, high currents require thicker cables.

By keeping the water circuit model in mind a lot of other terms can be explained as well. For example, power
generators can be visualized as water pumps, power loads can be pictured as water mills which need flow and
pressure of water to rotate and even electronic diodes can be thought of as water valves which allow the water to flow
towards one way only.

Direct current is, much like the name suggests, the flow of electrons towards a single direction. It is very simple to
visualize direct current using the "water circuit" model; simply think of water flowing towards one direction inside a
pipe. Common devices producing direct current are solar cells, batteries and dynamo generators. Almost everything
can be developed to be powered by a DC current source and it is almost exclusively used in any low voltage, mobile
and electronics applications.
DC current is pretty straightforward and almost everything is based on Ohm's Law (V = I * R), while the power of a
DC load is measured in Watts and equals P = V * I (Watts).

Because of the simple equations and its behavior, DC current is relatively easy to comprehend. The first electric
power transmission systems, developed by Thomas Edison back in the 19th century, were using direct current. The
long range distribution of DC however is problematic and it was soon replaced a few decades later by the significantly
advantageous (at the time) AC current developed by Nicola Tesla.
Even though the commercial power grids of the entire planet nowadays are using AC, technology advancements
ironically made high voltage DC transmissions more efficient over very long distances and/or extreme loads, such as
when interconnecting separate AC systems like entire countries or even continents. However, AC continues to be the
choice for low voltage commercial grids, for reasons explained later in this article.

Although AC is far easier to generate by using kinetic energy through a generator, batteries can only produce DC and
this is why DC dominates low voltage and electronics applications. Batteries can be charged only by DC as well,
which is why all AC power is instantly transformed to DC when a battery is a main part of a system. A very common
example of this would be any automotive application, such as motorcycles, cars and trucks. The alternator (also
known as dynamo) present in vehicles generates AC current which is instantly transformed to DC through a device
called "rectifier", because a battery is present and most electronics need DC voltage to operate. Solar cells and fuel
cells can also only produce DC, which can then be transformed to AC if necessary through a device called "inverter".

Much like the name suggests once again, alternating current is the flow of electrons which constantly changes
direction. Ever since the late 19th century, nearly all home and business power grids worldwide are using sine wave
AC current because it is easier to generate and much cheaper to distribute, with the exception of very few long
distance applications which benefit from the lower power losses of the newly developed very high voltage DC
systems.
AC has another great advantage, it allows for transfer of energy from the consumption point back into the grid as well
as from the grid to the consumption point. This is very beneficial for buildings and installations that now produce more
energy than they consume, which is quite possible when using alternate energy sources such as solar panels and

wind turbines. The fact that AC allows the two-way flow of energy is the main reason why alternate power sources are
becoming extremely popular and affordable.
When things come down to the technical level, unfortunately AC current complicates things dramatically for an
amateur to clearly understand how it works and makes the "water circuit" model obsolete; however it can still be
visualized as water rapidly changing the direction of its flow, even though nobody would ever understand how water
would accomplish anything useful by doing this. AC current and voltage constantly changes direction; how quickly is
defined by the frequency of the application (measured in Hz) and for residential power grids it usually is 50 / 60Hz,
which means that the voltage and current will change direction 50 / 60 times per second. Calculating the active
(RMS) voltage and current is fairly easy with sine wave systems; simply divide the peak by 2. In layman's terms,
when AC current changes directions 50 times per second (50Hz), it means that the incandescent lights of your house
are being turned on and off 50 times per second. The human eye cannot perceive it and your brain simply believes
that the lights are constantly turned on.

In the above graph you can see a random, imaginary AC power load connected to a 230V AC outlet. As you can see
not only the current (i) and voltage (v) are constantly alternating, but they also are out of phase (unsynchronized).
The vast majority of AC power loads will cause a phase difference. This means that you need to apply vector
mathematics even for the most simple of calculations; it is not possible to simply add, subtract or perform any other
scalar mathematics operations when working with vectors. With DC current we would say that if 5A were transferred
to a point from one cable and 2A were transferred to the same point from another cable, that would equal 7A
delivered to that point; with AC current that would not be true because the end result would depend on the direction of
the vectors.

Comparison chart

Improve this chart

Alternating
Current

Direct Current

Amount of
energy that
can be carried:

Safer to transfer over

longer city distances and can
provide more power

Voltage of DC cannot travel

very far until it begins to lose
energy

Flow of
Electrons:

Electrons keep
switching directions- forward
and backward

Electrons move steadily in one

direction or 'forward'

Cause of the
direction of
flow
of electrons:

Rotating magnet along the

wire

Steady magnetism along the

wire

Frequency:

The frequency of alternating

current is 50Hz or
60Hz depending upon the
country.

The frequency of direct

current is zero.

Direction:

It reverses its direction while

flowing in a circuit

It flows in one direction in the

circuit

Current:

It is the current of magnitude

varying with time

It is the current of constant

magnitude

Types:

Sinusoidal, Trapezoidal,
Triangular, Square

Pure and pulsating

Obtained
from:

A.C Generator and mains

Cell or Battery

Passive
Parameters:

Impedance

Resistance only

Power Factor:

Lies between 0 & 1

it is always 1

Improve this chart

Alternating
Current

Direct Current

The voltmeter can be connected by joining two wires to where the voltage is. One
wire is the positive one, and the other the negative. With some voltmeters, one
must make sure that the wires are connected to the right spots: the positive
connection on the voltmeter to the more positive "part" of the voltage source, and

the negative to the more negative "part". This way, the voltmeter is parallel to the
electrical circuit.
Connect a simple circuit so that the current will flow through the ammeter. Connect
the positive probe of the ammeter to the positive terminal of the power supply.
Connect the negative probe of the ammeter to one end of a resistor. Finally connect
the other end of the resistor to the negative terminal of the power supply. The
ammeter is now connected so that the current that flows through the resistor will
also flow through the ammeter, also know as an in-series connection.
Put the ammeter in the circuit in the place you want to measure the current. This
will mean cutting a wire and attaching the ammeter leads to the two cut ends.

2.3 VOLTAGE
The flow of charge described in the previous section is established byan external
pressure derived from the energy that a mass has by virtueof its position:
potential energy.Energy, by definition, is the capacity to do work. If a mass (m) is
raised to some height (h) above a reference plane, it has a measure of potential
energy expressed in joules (J) that is determined by
W (potential energy) = mgh( joules, J) (2.5) where g is the gravitational acceleration
(9.754 m/s2). This mass now has the potential to do work such as crush an object
placed on the ref-erence plane. If the weight is raised further, it has an increased
measure of potential energy and can do additional work. There is an obvious
difference in potential between the two heights above the reference plane.
In the battery of Fig. 2.7, the internal chemical action will establish(through an
expenditure of energy) an accumulation of negative charges (electrons) on one
terminal (the negative terminal) and positive charges (positive ions) on the other
(the positive terminal). A positioning of the charges has been established that will
result in a potential difference between the terminals. If a conductor is connected
between the terminals of the battery, the electrons at the negative terminal have
sufficient potential energy to overcome collisions with other particles in the
conductor and the repulsion from similar charges to reach the positive terminal to
which they are attracted.
Charge can be raised to a higher potential level through the expenditure of energy
from an external source, or it can lose potential energy as it travels through an
electrical system. In any case, by definition:
A potential difference of 1 volt (V) exists between two points if 1 joule (J) of energy
is exchanged in moving 1 coulomb (C) of charge between the two points.

The unit of measurement volt was chosen to honor Alessandro Volta (Fig.
2.9).Pictorially, if one joule of energy (1 J) is required to move the one coulomb (1 C)
of charge of Fig. 2.10 from position x to position y, the potential difference or
voltage between the two points is one volt (1 V). If the energy required to move the
1 C of charge increases to 12 J due to additional opposing forces, then the potential
difference will increase to 12 V. Voltage is therefore an indication of how much
energy is involved in moving a charge between two points in an electrical system.
Conversely, the higher the voltage rating of an energy source such as a battery, the
more energy will be available to move charge through the system. Note in the
above discussion that two points are always involved when talking about voltage or
potential difference. In the future, therefore, it is very important to keep in mind
that a potential difference or voltage is always measured between two points in the
system. Changing either point may change the potential difference between the two
points under investigation.
Potential: The voltage at a point with respect to another point in the electrical
system. Typically the reference point is ground, which is at zero potential.
Potential difference: The algebraic difference in potential (or voltage) between two
points of a network.
Voltage: When isolated, like potential, the voltage at a point with respect to some
reference such as ground (0 V).
Voltage difference: The algebraic difference in voltage (or potential) between two
points of the system. A voltage drop or rise is as the terminology would suggest.
Electromotive force (emf): The force that establishes the flow of charge (or current)
in a system due to the application of a difference in potential. This term is not
applied that often in todays literature but is associated primarily with sources of
energy.
In summary, the applied potential difference (in volts) of a voltage source in an
electric circuit is the pressure to set the system in motion and cause the flow of
charge or current through the electrical system.
A mechanical analogy of the applied voltage is the pressure applied to the water in
a main. The resulting flow of water through the system is likened to the flow of
charge through an electric circuit. Without the applied pressure from the spigot, the
water will simply sit in the hose, just as the electrons of a copper wire do not have a
general direction without an applied voltage.

If we consider the wire to be an ideal conductor (that is, having no opposition to

flow), the potential difference V across the resistor will equal the applied voltage of
the battery: V (volts) E (volts).

Two elements are in series if

1. They have only one terminal in common (i.e., one lead of one is connected to
only one lead of the other).
2. The common point between the two elements is not connected to another
current-carrying element.
Two elements, branches, or networks are in parallel if they have two points in
common.
an open circuit can have a potential difference (voltage) across its terminals, but the
current is always zero amperes.
a short circuit can carry a current of a level determined by the external circuit, but
the potential difference (voltage) across its terminals is always zero volts.