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Direct current runs in one direction.

Alternating current actually changes direction at a rate of 60 cycles (called Hertz, or Hz) a second in the United States and 50 cycles in Europe. A cycle is once in each direction. It's hard to imagine an object changing directions 120 times a second but this is what happens.

We still talk of AC as flowing to a load in one wire and returning in another, which is what DC really does. And in your home or office this simplifies a rather complicated process. But in reality the electrons never flow that far before they turn around a go back the other way.

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