Quote:
Originally Posted by Pazuzu
AC is easier to make (it naturally comes out of rotating generators)
AC is easier to use for most of our large appliances (motors like AC)
AC goes to 0 power every cycle, which means that the heat produced on a line (lost power) is sqrt(2) less than the lost heat from DC
AC changes directions each cycle, so the magnetic field formed collapses and changes direction each cycle, so it tends to average towards zero, in how it affects actual objects (like your brain)
It's easy and pretty efficient to go from AC to DC, it's very lossy going from DC to AC
AC can be stepped up to very high voltage/very low current for thin wires and massive power transfer easier than DC can be stepped up.
There's probably some aspect of self-inductance that makes one better than the other, but I don't care enough to figure that out. I think that AC actually gets worse when the self-inductance is calculated, since the magnetic field is changing. DC systems have no inductance, the magnetic fields are static.
At very high voltage, with large wires spread well apart, over long distances, both types of electricity are pretty much equal.
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Yep, I would agree...not that it matters: whether I agree or not would not change the reality of physics.
So line losses should be the same whether AC or DC is my understanding. It's really all the other aspects of generating, stepping up/down, conversion which incur losses. AC is easier to generate and manipulate wheras DC requires more "involvement" which in turn inherently incurs loss.
What got me here is a discussion with a junior colleague at work. He told me he ran AC instead of DC to some device at their cabin "because the line losses were greater with DC over 14 Ga wire". I said the losses would be the same but he likes to argue with me so he can "prove" me wrong. He said he did "the math"
I tend not to engage otherwise he gets frustrated and angry so I let him "win". Ya, sure, whatever.