Eli5: What’s the difference between a single phase electric current versus a 3 phased one?
In: 18
All of these smart people here are having a problem explaining this at a conceptual level:
There are two forms of power, DC and AC, and you can imagine them as a rope, and the power as friction in your hands. DC (direct current) is like having a rope tied in a circle and constantly spinning it. The rope goes one direction and causes friction (power) on your hands. However, this requires all power to be looped to the power source– not practical on a large scale.
So the power that goes to your house is AC (alternating current) , which you can think of as a single rope. Instead of going in a loop, the rope is tugged back and forth, also creating friction (power) in your hands.
The problem with AC is that when the rope switches direction, the power being produced hits zero at some point– sort of pulse-like. This is not good for some types of equipment. To mitigate this, they take 3 different ropes that are all in different “phases” of being pulled, so there is never a time where the power equals zero, and the power is more or less consistent.
Here’s a diagram:
https://www.otterbine.com/media/1504/cablewave.png?width=400&height=299
Edit: I’m not an engineer or electrician. My analogy is purely eli5, and I recommend you read other comments below that expand or correct it.
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