Difference Between AC and DC Power

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In our everyday life, we have noticed many times about AC and DC but very few of us know exactly the difference between them, and this is mostly the favorite question of interviewer, so today we will see their difference.

Electricity is basically a type of energy, which  is produced or generate because of movement of electrons within any conductor. This movement of electrons can be in one direction only or they can also move in two directions. On the basis of the movement of electrons, we get two types of electric energy, one is called Direct Current (DC) and other one is Alternating Current (AC). Lets check their properties in detail one by one.

Direct Current (DC)

• Direct Current originate because of movement of electrons in a conductor in one direction.
• In DC case, electrons don't change their direction and keep on moving in one direction.
• A magnetic field near a wire causes the electrons in the wire to flow in one direction along the wire. The reason of movement of electrons is because they are repelled and attracted by the poles of the magnet.
• DC current was invented by Thomas Edison.
• DC batteries we use in the cars based on this phenomena.

Alternating Current (AC)

• When electrons in a conductor moves in two directions than AC current generates.
• AC current was invented by Nikola Tesla , a Serbian scientist.
• Instead of applying the magnetism along the wire steadily (in one direction), he used a magnet that was rotating.In other words changing its direction.
• When the magnet was oriented in one direction, the electrons start to flow towards positive direction and when magnet oriented in opposite direction, they begin to move in opposite direction.
• That's the reason alternating current keeps on changing its polarity.

The Question is ???

• Now the question arises that when we had Direct Current , then whats.'s the need of Alternating Current ???
• Answer to this question is DC stores very low energy that's why we can't use it for long distances but the AC current can easily move to very long ranges.
• You have observed that all those thing where we need current just on the spot we use DC, such as in the cars. We are generating DC and using it at the same spot.
• But when there's a need to send energy at long distance we use AC such as in our house, all the energy coming from Power Plant to our houses is AC.

Note :

• There is also a limit of range for AC and for that reason we use transformers, which acts as a recharger and makes the energy of AC high again.

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About the Author

I am Syed Zain Nasir, the founder of The Engineering Projects (TEP). I am a programmer since 2009 before that I just search things, make small projects and now I am sharing my knowledge through this platform.I also work as a freelancer and did many projects related to programming and electrical circuitry.

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