AC power

You probably need more of an education than you can get here. Search the term "AC Power Basics" including the quotation marks and you should get what you need.

Quick answer though is that yes, the current is changing direction twice in each cycle. The number of cycles it goes through in each second is called Cycles-Per-Second, or CPS. But years and years ago, CPS was given a universal SI Unit term in honor of Heinrich Hertz, a physicist who studies electromagnetic waves. Herts is abbreviated Hz, so 60Hz or 50Hz describes the alternating rate of AC, which of course means "Alternating Current". What makes current flow in a circuit is what is a little too complex for a site like this, although most likely someone will try to type all that in.

Just a few basic principles used.

If a conductor is passed through a magnetic field a current will be developed.

The direction of movement determine the direction of the flow.

if you now rotate a coil in the magnetic field the direction of the flow will alternate depending on the side of the coil on the particular side.

If you rotate the coil at 3600 rpm the frequency will be 3600/60 = 60 Hz , at 3000 rpm one would get 50 Hz.

This is not the complete story but will give some indication.

Yes the voltage actually goes through positive and negetive cycles 50/60 times a second,you need to have some basic knowledge of AC theory to understand it can get very confusing if you do not have the basic concept .

the best way is to follow the anology of water flow,

the Volts is equvalent to the force of water flow in the pipe.

the quantity of water flow per sec is equivalent to the qulomb

the amount of water flowing can be equivalent to current flow

The total amount of water flowed to a container in one hour can be equivalent to KWH or one unit of electricity

i hope that will give you some idea of the basic terms in electricity and based on those you will be guided to understand the concepts

Browse through the internate and there is plenty of info. available .

I suppose my questions were a bit confusing. I believe do possess a basic understanding of AC power. My question relates to the actual method of transmission. In AC, the direction of the current reverses, or alternates, 60 times per second. My question relates to the return flow of the current, or the negative peak voltage indicated on the sine wave graph below:

My assumption is that the negative V peak represents the return path of one cycle. My question is: what causes the current to return to the original power source in an AC cycle and why does it create a negative voltage?

The voltage alternates 'cos that's how the generator works...it produces a sinusoidal voltage as it rotates...someone has already described how.

Once you generate a sinusoidal voltage the current flow will follow... flowing from positive to negative (conventional current ..not electron flow)

To imagine it simplistically...if you take a dc circuit with a battery and bulb and repeatedly swap the battery connection the current will reverse every time you swap the terminals.

So to answer the question..what causes the current to return to the original power source in an AC cycle?

The answer is ...the voltage.

You seem to be under the impression that the current is causing the voltage...NO ...the voltage causes the current to flow.

(But you may wish to ignore this post as I'm sust an old fart who thinks he knows everything.)

Del

As I see it the electricity flows the other way in that cycle because the coil is positioned in the opposite direction to the position when it was giving a positive flow. (that is in a fixed magnetic field)

I would say it is analog (or opposite) to a transformer by changing the magnetic direction of the secondary winding by flipping it around mechanically.

As a child we made "alternators" using a permanent U shaped magnet, a coil around a core on a spindle with a crank handle.

Nikola Tesla was curious man and a lot of people today has big problem with his ideas and work . Dear guest ,don't afraid find some good book or spend more time at school !!
Good luck !

Hello,

AC is alternating current. This nothing but flow of electrons in sinsuodal fashion with a frequency of 50/60 cycles per second. That mean a sinusoidal wave of 50 /60 times per second will be there. In otherwards the current starts from zero reaches postive maximum, then zero, negative maximum and then zero.

Phase is the direction of power flow with neutral the return path.

Hope you are clear.

Regards,

N.Suresh