Transmitting Alternating Current
The amount of electrical power that can be sent along a conductor depends on the voltage and current. When sending electricity long distances it is necessary to keep the amount of current to a minimum. A large flow of electrons requires a large diameter conductor. On the relatively thin conductors used for long distance transmission, the movement of very large numbers of electrons would cause a lot of internal friction and heating. This would mean unacceptably high losses of energy along the transmission lines. To overcome this problem the 11,000 volt electricity from the generator is sent to a device called a transformer.
These transformers are used to increase the voltage to either 110,000 volts or 220,000 volts. At these pressures large amounts of power can be sent long distances using a relatively small number of electrons. Losses of energy along the transmission line are kept to a minimum. |
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