What is meant by Alternating Current

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What is meant by Alternating Current

Alternating current (AC)
The electric current which changes its direction (or polarity) after a certain fixed interval of time is called alternating current or AC. Thus, in AC, the polarity (+ or –) is not fixed. The electricity supplied to our homes and industry in our country is alternating current (AC).

Advantages of the alternating current (AC) :
The alternating current (AC) has the following advantages.

  1. The alternating current (AC) can be transmitted over long distances without much loss of energy and at low rate of transmission.
  2. The alternating current (AC) operated machines such as electric fan, electric motor etc., are more durable and convenient as compared to those operated on direct current (DC).
  3. Alternating current (AC) can be controlled by a choke coil at very low energy loss. On the other hand, direct current (DC) can be controlled only by ohmic resistances at relatively much higher energy loss.

Frequency of the alternating current :
Alternating current (AC) so produced has a definite frequency. This frequency is equal to half the number of times the polarity changes in one second. In our country, the frequency of the alternating current supplied by the power generation units is 50 cycles per second (or Hz). This means, the alternating current (AC) produced in our country changes polarity 100times in one second.

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