ELECTRONIC PRINCIPLES - OD1647 - LESSON 1/TASK 1
FIGURE 50. MICA CAPACITOR COLOR CODE.
5. Alternating Current Production
a. Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC).
Alternating current is current which constantly changes in
amplitude, and which reverses direction at regular intervals.
Previously, we learned that direct current flows only in one
direction, and that the amplitude of current is determined by
the number of electrons flowing past a point in a circuit in one
second. If, for example, a coulomb of electrons moves past a
point in a wire in one second, and all the electrons are moving
in the same direction, the amplitude of direct current in the
wire is one ampere. Similarly, if half a coulomb of electrons
moves in one direction past a point in the wire in half a
second, then reverses direction, moving past the same point in
the opposite direction during the next halfsecond, a total of
one coulomb of electron passes the point in one second. The
amplitude of the alternating current is one ampere. The
preceding comparison of dc and ac is
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