AC DC
No, not that AC~DC, I'm talking about Alternating Current and Direct Current.
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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.
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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
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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.
- One key to understanding electronics is how Alternating Current waveforms are used for different purposes, like powering things, controlling things, and making sounds (audio).
Listen to a 220 Hertz Sine Wave
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