Is it similar to the waves on the surface of an ocean, where the particles go 2 steps forward and 1 step back in waves? If so, what makes it do that? Why would that be used instead of DC current?
In: 72
As other people said, electrons are pretty slow.
Also, the electrons don’t actually carry/transfer the energy in the way you think. They don’t have to make it all the way from the generator to the load to “drop off” their energy.
The energy is carried by an electric field, and that field travels along the wire at the speed of light.
AC is used because it’s very easy to convert voltages using an AC transformer. This is really useful for a distribution network.
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