Physics: Alternating Current Circuits Education Essay

Alternating Current
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Abstract
The two commonly known sources of electrical voltages are known as AC and DC voltages. These voltages have their own specific applications. This report focuses on the enormous benefits offered by the AC voltages in their generation, transmission, and applications. It can be concluded that the AC voltages are the preferred and cost-effective choices in most of the modern day applications.
Alternating Current
The Alternating Current (AC) is commonly known as the electricity we receive at our homes. It is the critical element which is driving the residential, commercial, and industrial lives around the globe. Most of the consumer goods like mobile phones, laptops, and microwave ovens, however, run on the DC current. The two most commonly known types of electrical currents are known as the Direct Current (DC) and AC (Alternating Current). While most of the modern electronics are running on the DC voltages it is commonly asked why is the AC current preferred over the DC in the generation and transmission regimes. In this essay, we are going to focus our efforts on the unique features of the AC current and its advantages over the DC voltage or current.
The highlighting difference between the DC and AC currents is the fact that the DC can only flow in one direction, the AC voltage, on the other hand, has the ability to move in both forward and backward directions. The usual waveform an AC voltage is the pure sine wave. These waveforms can also be altered depending on their applications for instance in the radios the square waves are used to filter the communications. It is true that in some cases the conventional AC voltage has no distinct advantages over its DC counterpart (Mouser, 2017). However, the unique ability of the AC is its easy long-distance transmission and low hardware requirements. The unidirectional DC voltages require heavy wires to be transmitted and moreover, after some distance, these voltage values become to decrease owing to the power dissipation in the transmission lines (Mouser, 2017; Emery, 2014). The AC voltages, on the other hand, have the capability to travel a long distance and the wires required to transmit them are cost and material efficiency. The basic unidirectional and bi-directional features of the voltages are highlighted in the following figure along with the transmission efficiency of the AC voltage.
Figure 1: Difference between AC and DC voltages and transmission characteristics (Mouser, 2017).
The long-distance transmission and efficient supply of AC voltage is due to its bidirectional properties. The DC voltage being unidirectiona...