In alternating current (AC, also ac), the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current (DC, also dc), the flow of electric charge is only in one direction.
The abbreviations AC and DC are often used to mean simply alternating and direct, as when they modify current or voltage.
AC is the form in which electric power is delivered to businesses and residences. The usual waveform of an AC power circuit is a sine wave. In certain applications, different waveforms are used, such as triangular or square waves. Audio and radio signals carried on electrical wires are also examples of alternating current. In these applications, an important goal is often the recovery of information encoded (or modulated) onto the AC signal.
Read more about Alternating Current: History, Transmission, Distribution, and Domestic Power Supply, AC Power Supply Frequencies, Effects At High Frequencies, Mathematics of AC Voltages
Famous quotes containing the word current:
“We set up a certain aim, and put ourselves of our own will into the power of a certain current. Once having done that, we find ourselves committed to usages and customs which we had not before fully known, but from which we cannot depart without giving up the end which we have chosen. But we have no right, therefore, to claim that we are under the yoke of necessity. We might as well say that the man whom we see struggling vainly in the current of Niagara could not have helped jumping in.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)