why 3 phase electricity instead of 4 or 5, etc?
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A large part of the rationale for multi-phase systems is that they deliver constant power. With 3 sine waves offset by 120 degrees, this can be accomplished.
With two-phase, four-phase, five-phase, etc., you can’t do this except in a trivial sense (a four-phase system that was a three-phase system with a line delivering no power would meet our criteria in a trivial fashion).
You could do it with a 6-, 9-, etc. phase system, but why bother? You’re not getting anything your 3-phase system doesn’t provide and you’re using extra hardware you don’t need.
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