I have read multiple different versions of how AC current flows in our power lines. How does the current flow? Is the energy just photonics waves passing through electrons that vibrate or are electrons flowing in the direction of usage. How would they flow if the current oscillates both forward and backwards? I have read that energized electrons flow at almost light speed toward usage, but I have also read that they don’t flow, they oscillate and transfer the electromagnetic wave energy generated from the power generator or storage.
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
0
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
In a wire carrying electrical current, the field that drives the current flow does impose a slow drift of electrons along the wire, but the actual transmission of power in the wire is done by the propagation of the electric and magnetic fields along the length of the wire. This occurs at near-lightspeed.
In the case of AC power, that electron drift reverses direction with each cycle of the AC so there is no net transport of electrons in one end of the wire and out the other end.
Useful power that can perform work is carried by the back-and-forth AC in the same way that a two-ended crosscut saw cuts wood on both the push and the pull parts of its cycle.
answered Mar 1, 2020 at 21:32