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Also see current, voltage, and direct current. In electricity, alternating current (AC) occurs when charge carriers in a conductor or semiconductor periodically reverse their direction of movement. Household utility current in most countries is AC with a frequency of 60 hertz (60 complete cycles per second), although in some countries it is 50 Hz. The radio-frequency (RF) current in antennas and transmission lines is another example of AC. An AC waveform can be sinusoidal, square, or sawtooth-shaped. Some AC waveforms are irregular or complicated. An example of sine-wave AC is common household utility current (in the ideal case).
Electric power fields in the U.S. are in the extremely-low-frequency (ELF) range (at 60 cycles per second = 60. Hz). That means that the power for your electrical appliances has alternating current (AC) at 60 Hz. The lower. the frequency of the electromagnetic waves, the greater the wavelength (the distance between one. electromagnetic âwaveâ and the next), and the lower the amount of energy.