What is the differences between AC and DC?

Question

Alternate Current and Direct Current.

Answer 1

direct current only goes one direction. alternate can go from one device to the other, or vice versa (I think)

Answer 2

Try and understand that current are actually negative charged electrons that are flowing. In AC the flow is directed by the voltage going from positive to negative. So the electrons flow back and forth from the source to the load. Electron are traveling extremely fast and has nothing to do with the 60 Hz frequency. At your home you can not consume all the almost 75k watt that the transformer can provide and that the power company replenish every second. 1 watt = 6.28 X10^18 electrons per seconds.

Answer 3

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/edison/sfea...

go to the website and look if it can help u or not............

-An alternating current (AC) is an electric current whose direction reverses cyclically, as opposed to direct current, whose direction remains constant.

Direct current (DC or "continuous current") is the unidirectional flow of electric charge.

Answer 4

Like a battery in a sense... It is DC, the positive end is ALWAYS positive and negative is ALWAYS negative.

With an AC power source, it indicates positive, but it will change from positive to negative at the frequency (like 60Hz for home power in USA).

Since the DC power source never changes, the current will flow in one direction only.  With the AC source, the current will flow one direction and then reverse and flow in the opposite direction.

Also, a DC current will completely use the entire conductor.  An AC current will have a skin effect and only use the "outside" of the wire.  (look for skin effect in transmission lines)  Many transmission lines do not have a metal center/core since the transmission lines are operating at 60Hz (in USA, for example) and only the outer wires are necessary due to the AC current flowing on the outer part of the conductors....

Answer 5

Direct current goes in just one direction, while alternating current alternates direction.  In other words, the electric field direction for ac current is alternating.  AC current is what is typically used to generate electricity.

Answer 6

direct current is when the flow is from the positive pole to the negative pole as in a flashlight battery or your car battery.  Alternate current is when the poles reverse negative to positive.  This is found in all electricity supplied by a power company or a generator. "Hertz" tell the number of times this (reversing of the poles) happens per second.  Here in the USA hertz is set at 60.

Answer 7

The flow of electrons through a conductor, like a wire, is a current.

Direct current is electrons flowing in only one direction.  This is current that you would get from a battery, solar collector, or circuitry designed to convert AC to DC.

Alternating current is electrons that move back and forth in a conductor.  The frequency of the movement is determined by the speed that the generator producing the current is rotating.  The frequency is expressed in 'hertz (Hz)' and represents rotations per second.  

Our power supplied to us in the US is 60 Hz.  I believe power supplied in Europe is 50 Hz.

Best Wishes

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Answer 8

a Direct current goes only in one direction from your power source to the load like batteries make a flashlight work.

An AC or alternating current switches direction back and forth kind of like a balance wheel does in an old wind up wrist watch (hope you know what that is they are rare today).

This back and forth action makes it easy to transfer power from different places.

The behavior of AC makes it possible to get power from a power plant to your house efficiently. Just makes it a little dangerous though. Watch out for power lines when working or playing around them they are deadly