home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Newsgroups: sci.physics
- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!news.aero.org!speedy.aero.org!pepe!steve
- From: steve@pepe.aero.org (Steve Sedlacek)
- Subject: History of AC vs DC Power
- Message-ID: <1992Nov11.154425.8399@speedy.aero.org>
- Keywords: alternating current, direct current
- Sender: sedlacek@aero.org
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pepe.aero.org
- Organization: The Aerospace Corporation; El Segundo, CA
- Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 15:44:25 GMT
- Lines: 14
-
- A question came up at lunch yesterday: Why is our power system completely
- AC? What are the historical and physical factors which led to the present
- power grid? I beleive there are some DC high power transmission lines in
- Europe. A related question concerns the supposed effect of EMF on cancers,
- especially in children. A new Swedish study apparently confirms a moderate
- correlation between living near high-power transmission lines and cancers.
- Possibly the static field of DC transmission would be "less damaging" than
- the fluctuating field from AC? Again, what is the HISTORY and WHY should
- power transmission be AC (I assume it is more than just transformers to
- step voltage up and down being easy for AC).
-
-
- --
- Steven Sedlacek sedlacek@aero.org
-