alternating current

/AO1 L T ER0 N EY0 T IH0 NG K ER1 AH0 N T/

noun

1
An electric current in which the direction of flow of the electrons reverses periodically, such as sawtooth, sinusoidal or square wave current.
2
An electric current in which the direction of flow of the electrons reverses periodically by a sinusoidal law, hence having an average of zero, with positive and negative values (with a frequency of 50 Hz in Europe, 60 Hz in the US, 400 Hz for airport lighting, and some others); especially such a current produced by a rotating generator or alternator.

Translate “alternating current” into another language

Choose a language below to open the translator with English selected as the source language.