0
You can step up or step down an AC voltage -- power transmission without excessive energy loss. You can store AC energy in a passive element, requiring no batteries. AC signal can propagate in air/space (wireless communication). You can moderate AC signals (FM, AM). You can store a lot of information in AC signals.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Wiki User
∙ 14y agothe easiest way to generate large currents is to use the alternators which generates alternate current, generating direct current requires some sort of batteries or cells which are not practical for generating high currents and also have a high cost. Beside, transporting electrical energy through long transmission lines is subject to enormous losses due to the resistivity of electrical wires, so, we have to transmit the energy using high voltages to reduce these losses. high voltages are not directly usable in home appliances and other everyday devices, so we have to reduce this voltage to a suitable one. the best method to down convert high voltages is the Transformers, and transformes only works using alternating currents.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoActually, Direct Current works better than Alternating Current if you are transmitting electricity over 600 miles 1,000 Kilometers. However, for transmitting power for more than a few city blocks, transformers can change the voltage, on alternating current so the power plant can be a number of miles or kilometers away from where the electricity is used. A step up transformer sends the electricity at extremely high voltage to a substation. There the voltage is reduced. It goes from there on a high voltage line to a transformer. From there to a home or apartment. High voltage electricity can send a lot of electricity using smaller wires. You can not use transformers with direct current. You must use a different mechanism to reduce its voltage. That is why the United States only has four long high voltage direct current current lines.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoIn the 1880's Edison was pushing for a DC transmission System and Westinghouse and Tesla were advocates of an AC system. At the time there were valid technical reasons on both sides (See War of Currents on Wikipedia), but Westinghouse and Tesla won out when the Niagara falls system in 1890 was built as an AC system.
AnswerBecause a.c. allows the use of transformers, which enables energy to be transmitted at high voltages / low currents, which reduces the voltage drops and line losses along the transmission lines. This is possible with d.c., but it is much more complicated and costly and the technology is relatively new.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoOne big advantage is that it is easy to change the voltage, with a transformer. This is the main reason that electricity is transported over long distances in the form of AC.
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
What is direct current and alternating current?
Direct current is a constant, steady state current, such as obtained from a battery. Alternating current is constantly switching polarity, usually in a sinusoidal waveform, such as obtained from an alternator, a form of generator that does not have a commutator.Direct Current and Alternating Current:The first and simpler type of electricity is called direct current, abbreviated "DC". This is the type of electricity that is produced by batteries, static, and lightning. A voltage is created, and possibly stored, until a circuit is completed. When it is, the current flows directly, in one direction. In the circuit, the current flows at a specific, constant voltage (this is oversimplified somewhat but good enough for our needs.)The other type of electricity is called alternating current, or "AC". This is the electricity that you get from your house's wall and that you use to power most of your electrical appliances. Alternating current is harder to explain than direct current. The electricity is not provided as a single, constant voltage, but rather as a sinusoidal (sine) wave that over time starts at zero, increases to a maximum value, then decreases to a minimum value, and repeats.
What was the most famous invention that Nikola Tesla invented?
Although N. Tesla invented many things, probably the most important invention was the alternating current (AC) motor. This allowed the world to use AC generating and transmission lines to transmit electricity over great distances with little power loss. Direct current cannot be generated or transmitted over long distances without great losses due to resistance.
How does Nikola Tesla's AC motor work?
Edison and Tesla came to technological blows in the late 1800s when Tesla's AC (alternating current) power systems that are used all over the world today came into competition with Edison's DC (direct current) power systems. As it turns out, Tesla's system was the better one. In 1882, Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla identified the rotating magnetic induction field principle used in alternators and pioneered the use of this rotating and inducting electromagnetic field force to generate torque in rotating machines. An AC motor is an electric motor that is driven by an alternating current. It consists of two basic parts, an outside stationary stator having coils supplied with alternating current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and an inside rotor attached to the output shaft that is given a torque by the rotating field.
How would it affect the world if Nikola Tesla had not been a scientist?
Before Tesla contribution with his invention of alternate current, the electric monopoly was controlled by Thomas Edison. It was a direct current system and had to many problems like people getting shocked when touching the walls in their homes and many factories and homes burned by the current. Imagine if we continued increasing the use of direct current in homes all over the world.
What was Nikola Tesla best known for?
Creating several patents, such as: AC Alternating Current Electricity, Neon Lights, X-Ray, Radio, Robots, Radar and all together over 700 patents that made the world what it is today.
What type of current is used in your home alternating or direct?
In North America the electrical system is alternating current at a frequency of 60 Hertz. Europe and the UK use alternating current at a frequency of 50 Hertz. Direct current systems are obsolete because of the inability to transmit the voltage over long distances.
Which type of current invovles flow of charge in two directions?
A direct current involves change of flow in a single direction. DC (direct current), at least on the macro scale. On the atomic scale, they seem to wander all over the place between atoms, and the average movement is what we measure as current.
Why is an AC current system used in a domestic electrical supply?
Alternating current (AC) is easier to transmit over long distances than is direct current (DC).
What is direct current and alternating current?
Direct current is a constant, steady state current, such as obtained from a battery. Alternating current is constantly switching polarity, usually in a sinusoidal waveform, such as obtained from an alternator, a form of generator that does not have a commutator.Direct Current and Alternating Current:The first and simpler type of electricity is called direct current, abbreviated "DC". This is the type of electricity that is produced by batteries, static, and lightning. A voltage is created, and possibly stored, until a circuit is completed. When it is, the current flows directly, in one direction. In the circuit, the current flows at a specific, constant voltage (this is oversimplified somewhat but good enough for our needs.)The other type of electricity is called alternating current, or "AC". This is the electricity that you get from your house's wall and that you use to power most of your electrical appliances. Alternating current is harder to explain than direct current. The electricity is not provided as a single, constant voltage, but rather as a sinusoidal (sine) wave that over time starts at zero, increases to a maximum value, then decreases to a minimum value, and repeats.
What is DC power?
Direct current (DC or "continuous current") is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also be through semiconductors, insulators, or even through a vacuum as in electron or ion beams. In direct current, the electric charges flow in the same direction, distinguishing it from alternating current (AC). A term formerly used for direct current was Galvanic current. Direct current may be obtained from an alternating current supply by use of a current-switching arrangement called a rectifier, which contains electronic elements (usually) or electromechanical elements (historically) that allow current to flow only in one direction. Direct current may be made into alternating current with an inverter or a motor-generator set. The first commercial electric power transmission (developed by Thomas Edison in the late nineteenth century) used direct current. Because of the advantage of alternating current over direct current in transforming and transmission, electric power distribution today is nearly all alternating current. For applications requiring direct current, such as third rail power systems, alternating current is distributed to a substation, which utilizes a rectifier to convert the power to direct current. See War of Currents. Direct current is used to charge batteries, and in nearly all electronic systems as the power supply. Very large quantities of direct-current power are used in production of aluminum and other electrochemical processes. Direct current is used for some railway propulsion, especially in urban areas. High voltage direct current is used to transmit large amounts of power from remote generation sites or to interconnect alternating current power grids.
Who believed it was dangerous to fool around with alternating currents?
Thomas Edison believed it was dangerous to fool around with alternating currents and promoted the use of direct current instead. He was in a bitter rivalry with Nikola Tesla, who championed the use of alternating current for its efficiency over long distances.
What type of electric current does a power plant generate for use in your home?
generally power plants produce ALTERNATING CURRENT,because after producing the current the are sent to substations where they are stepped up or stepped down.so a transformer is mainly used over there.for a transformer we cant supply direct current.we should supply only alternating current.so they only produce alternating current................... 4RM PRAJITH
Why did Tesla's alternating current system become the standard for providing electricity?
In the "War of Currents", George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison became adversaries due to Edison's promotion of direct current for electric power distribution over alternating current advocated by Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla. AC was and it is the best system.
What was the voltage of early electricity?
Edison's original plan called for 90V DC (Direct Current). Alternating current is used today, due to its ability to transfer power efficiently over longer distances.
What is rms value in ac system?
The r.m.s. value of an alternating current or voltage is the value of direct current or voltage which produces the same heating effect.
How do you work out amps in an electrical circuit?
Current symbol I =voltage/resesistance I=V/R for direct current (dc) and for a resistive load in alternating current (ac)
Why do transmission lines use alternating current?
Transmission lines use alternating current in order to support stepping-up and stepping-down of the voltage with transformers. Voltage is stepped-up at the power station, sent over the transmission lines, and stepped-down at the receiver. (This is a simplified explanation.) By stepping-up, you reduce the current carrying requirement of the lines, and they can thus be smaller.You could not do this with direct current as transformers only work for alternating current.
