AC Power

AC Power

Power in an electric circuit is the rate of flow of energy past a given point of the circuit. In alternating current circuits, energy storage elements such as inductance and capacitance may result in periodic reversals of the direction of energy flow. The portion of power that, averaged over a complete cycle of the AC waveform, results in net transfer of energy in one direction is known as real power. The portion of power due to stored energy, which returns to the source in each cycle, is known as reactive power.

Read more about AC Power:  Real, Reactive, and Apparent Powers, Power Factor, Reactive Power, Reactive Power Control, Unbalanced Polyphase Systems, Basic Calculations Using Real Numbers, Multiple Frequency Systems

Famous quotes containing the word power:

    Sometimes, because of its immediacy, television produces a kind of electronic parable. Berlin, for instance, on the day the Wall was opened. Rostropovich was playing his cello by the Wall that no longer cast a shadow, and a million East Berliners were thronging to the West to shop with an allowance given them by West German banks! At that moment the whole world saw how materialism had lost its awesome historic power and become a shopping list.
    John Berger (b. 1926)