eli5: how does AC power provide power when it’s just shifting back and forth? Don’t you need to have current going in one direction
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You can think of AC current as pulsating, moving back and forth like a wave. The wave sweeps out, and then back. Now when there is no load, the electricity is not moving. Think of a boat that reduces the wave and less water comes back to shore.
A load on the circuit causes the electricity to move and burns up the electricity. So you can think of the electricity as pulsating or going back and forth against a filament in a lightbulb. The filament “uses up” that electricity in both directions so there is a reduction in the electricity.
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