What is imaginary current/power in electricity?
In: Physics
They’re the imaginary components of the current and power meaning they don’t do *real* work
If you hook a resistor across the AC power line then the current and voltage are in phase, you have positive current with positive voltage and peak current at peak voltage. The resistor turns the energy into heat and *real* work is done
If you hook an ideal capacitor across the AC line then the current and voltage are 90 degrees out of phase. You get peak current at 0 volts and 0 current at the peak voltage. Energy flows into the capacitor but then flows out later so no energy is lost and no *real* work is done
In real systems though you still care about imaginary currents because they change the behavior of the system and do have resistive losses in power lines and can trip breakers
If you hook a perfect capacitor up to an AC power line, current will go through it, but it won’t use any energy itself, the energy stored in it comes back out of it. That’s imaginary power. It still produces real current, but there’s no work done.
Latest Answers