As in nature, all is ebb and tide, all is wave motion, so it seems that in all branches of industry, alternating currents - electric wave motion - will have the sway - In regards to the Direct Current vs. Alternating Current argument
To generate AC in water pipes, there is mechanical crank on a piston that moves water in the pipes back and forth (alternating) . The pinched section of pipe provides resistance to the flow of water regardless of the direction of flow.
Resistance can be shown with two circuits that have equal voltages and different resistances. The circuit with the higher resistance has less charge in it, meaning it also has less current flowing through it.
The electricity can only flow one way in a DC circuit. Similar to DC-producing batteries, once the energy source is empty, electricity no longer flows through the wires.
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Whereas in a DC current the energy flows in one direction only. AC current alternates, giving it the name,this allows for it to go across long distances with thinner wires relatively easily. Because motors and generators are the exact same device. AC is also capable of powering electric motors. Now, everything that runs off of a battery, plugs in to the wall with an AC adapter, or uses a USB cable for power relies on DC current but back in the late 1800's DC powered everything and Thomas Edison, had constructed 121 DC power stations in the United States by 1887. A turning point from DC to AC came when George Westinghouse, a famous industrialist, purchased Nikola Tesla’s patents for AC motors and transmission the next year. DC current could not be transitioned easily to high voltages and as a result even with accounting for the voltage drop across the power lines, power plants needed to be located within 1 mile of the end user. This limitation made power distribution in rural areas extremely difficult and a drain of money/ resources but with Tesla’s patents, Westinghouse worked to perfect the AC distribution system. Transformers allowed for an inexpensive method to raise the voltage of AC to several thousand volts and back down to usable levels too. At high voltages, less energy is lost with an AC current. Higher voltages mean lower currents, and lower currents mean less heat generated in the power line due to resistance. Edison ran a smear campaign to discourage the use of AC in the United States, which included lobbying state legislatures and spreading false information about AC. Edison also publicly electrocute animals(neighborhood cats and dogs that Edison paid children 25 cents to bring him) with AC in an attempt to show that AC was more dangerous than DC. In attempt to display these dangers, employees of Edison, designed the first electric chair for the state of New York using AC.In 1891, the International Electro-Technical Exhibition was held in Frankfurt, Germany and displayed the first long distance transmission of three-phase AC current. Several representatives from what would become General Electric were present and were impressed by the display. The following year, when General Electric formed they began to invest in AC technology.Westinghouse won a contract in 1893 to build a hydroelectric dam to harness the power of Niagara falls using Tesla's patents and transmit AC to Buffalo, NY. The project was completed in 1896 and AC power began to power industries in Buffalo. This marked the decline of DC in the United States