Three phase power is always delivering power on one of the phase continuously. This is very useful to manufacturing industries to operate the machines, which require high power utilization.
The basic difference is the secondary voltages. On a distribution transformer the secondary voltage is very high. This is to overcome line loss for transmission of electricity over long distances. A three phase power transformer is used at the consumers three phase services end to manipulate voltages that consumers need to operate their equipment. The transformer that feeds your house is considered to be a single phase power transformer.
With no three phase power supply you can't use a three phase motor of any kind at all!
You need three phase power to get three phase power. If you only have one phase, you will need some kind of inverter or motor-generator set. Generally, however, the demands of a three phase motor will exceed the capability and efficiency of these "tricky" solutions. It is best to simply contact your local power company and have them provide the proper three phase power to your facility.
You will need to determine the power per phase, and add them up to give the total power of the three-phase load. To do this, you will need to multiply the phase-voltage by the phase current by the power factor -for each phase.
Electric power is measured in watts. It does not matter if it is single phase or three phase. All things being equal, for the same load, the power measured in a single phase circuit or a three phase circuit, will be the same.
You don't. A three phase motor will not start unless it is connected to a three phase supply.
To use a single/one phase motor instead of a three phase motor is possible if you have a three phase power supply as you will only need to tap one of the three phases together with neutral and an earthwire, however to use a three phase motor instead of a single phase will require the provision of three phase power supply.
No. A three-phase ballast requires three-phase power
Houses generally run on single phase power. It would not make sense to convert single phase to three phase to run a house. Please restate the question.
In Europe they have both single phase and three phase.
Single phase supply alternates like a sign wave, from negative to positive, producing a less reliable source of power, where as three phase is effectively three lots of single phase source, within the time of a standard single phase source. Each of the three phase sources are 120 degrees out of phase, producing a more consistent power source which can carry greater loads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-phase_electric_power Click on this link from Wikipedia. It gives an excellent description of three phase power.