Adam Espinoza

Physics Period 5
2-15-19
AC vs DC
Others would think AC/DC as a rock band but in this case we are talking about physics.

AC/DC are actually electric currents that power up electric devices such as electricity, AC units,

and more. AC currents are charged electric going alternating current and DC are charged

currents that goes into one direction. There has been a debate about whether we should have AC

or DC currents powering up houses. Until this day, people would see this as Tesla (AC) vs

Edison (DC) because it is a debate or an argument about whether we should use either one.

So far, Tesla AC electric current won but there have been rumors that Edison is coming

back up to continue this war. According to Alan Finkel, it said the debate has started since 1893

at Chicago World’s Fair. he also states, “There was no way back the to convert the DC voltage to

higher or lower values. To be safe for use in homes and factories, the DC generators were design

to produce electricity at low voltage. The downside was that this meant the losses during

transmissions from the generator to the consumer were high.” Good thing they kept the voltage

low because if it were high then it would have cause a current malfunction. Edison set up a

campaign saying that AC is dangerous and prove his point by having a public electrocution of

stray dogs, cats, and horses.

Tesla had a comeback known as a transformer. Alan Finkel states, “It is a simple

arrangements of iron cores and copper windings that allows voltage to be converted up or down.

The limitation is that transformers only work with AC electricity. With transformers, Tesla could

boost the generator output to thousands of volts for low-toss transmission over long distances

then cut the voltage down again to safe values for final delivery for consumers.” I think this is
what made Tesla win because he had much more control with the electric current with the

transformer as it allows him to convert it up or down. In my opinion, it is best to choose AC over

DC because DC can over charge can create a massive black out on a mistake. AC can power up

so many electric objects at once.

Source

https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/tesla-vs-edison-the-ac-dc-current-wars-make-a-

comeback