For example, apparently the grid on one side of Japan uses 50 Hz and the other side uses 60 Hz, and this means they can’t interconnect, but… why? Why isn’t it the case that current is current is current is current? I’ve heard some super vague explanation about how deviations in the line frequency can damage electrical equipment, but *how* does it do that?
In: Engineering
The frequency is the rate at which the current alternates. In order to have power flowing you need a positive and negative wire. Current flows from positive to negative. With alternating current you swap the wires around at 50 or 60 Hz. But all the power stations need to do this at once. If not then you end up with a short circuit where the positive wire from one power station connects to the negative wire on the other power station and vice versa.
It is technically possible to connect two such power grids together. However it requires huge expensive switches that can undo all the switching on one side and then redo it on the other side at the different frequency. But these are not very practical.
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