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Article #4716History of AC vs DC Power
From: Steve Sedlacek
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 15:44
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 15:44
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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
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Newsgroups: sci.physics Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!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