AC DC
No, not that AC~DC, I'm talking about Alternating Current and Direct Current.
-
In our examples up to now, we have only considered Direct Current. which is current moving in only one direction along the wire, from positive to negative, just like a battery. However, the current can also reverse direction along a wire, and then we call it Alternating Current.
-
For example, in the U.S.A., the Alternating Current that we get from our wall sockets reverses direction with a frequency of sixty (60) times every second, all day long. We refer to that as 60 Hertz Alternating Current
-
We refer to current that reverses polarity with a regular periodicity as Alternating Current, if it is not regular, we refer to it as Pulsating, or just variable current.
- You will see that the green Alternating Current waveform above is a Sine, or Sinusoidal Waveform. Most power systems attempt to provide pure sine waves for powering equipment.
Listen to a 220 Hertz Sine Wave
- There are many other types of Alternating Current (or A.C.) Waveforms other than the Sine Waveform
- One key to understanding electronics is how different Alternating Current Waveforms are used for different purposes, like powering things, controlling things, and making sounds (audio).
The Workshop Projects, Embedis, and thingSoC are community supported, you can help continue these projects by donating to support this work.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
It may be used for Educational, Personal, or Commercial Use, provided you keep these notices, attribution, and share-alike. When you apply these licenses to material you create, it meets the Freedom Defined definition of a "Free Cultural Work". Free cultural works are the ones that can be most readily used, shared,and remixed by others, and go furthest toward creating a commons of freely reusable materials.
All product and company names are trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders.
Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.
Use of promotional images or datasheets in support their products by kind permission. All specifications are subject to change without notice.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.