I recently did first year physics Oscilloscope lab and have trouble with a few q
ID: 1525088 • Letter: I
Question
I recently did first year physics Oscilloscope lab and have trouble with a few questions regarding the lab. This electricity stuff is very confusion for me. I was hoping if someone can give a brief explaination or better yet, provide me with a link to a website so I learn more. I unfortunately do not have the course textbook :(.
1a) Why does the power outlet provides alternating and not a direct current? What is the benefit of AC as compared to DC? Why is AC to DC conversion necessary?
1b) What does the quality factor and the efficiency of conversion represent? What is their importance? Which one represents a more relevant quantity when building a converter circuit?
1c) Are there more efficient ways to generate DC current?
Explanation / Answer
Part a
AC is cheaper to produce than DC and hence generally AC is produced and supplied to houses. The most important benefit of AC over DC is its low cost of production. AC is converted to DC because most of our home appliances are designed to work on DC.
Part b
Quality factor represents the quality of a circuit to convert an AC into DC with 100% efficiency. It depends on the value of components used in the circuit.
Efficiency of circuit represents the quality of its design to convert an AC into DC.
The knowledge of both play important role to get an efficient conversion.
Both of them are equally important. We need to make a efficient design of our circuit to have more efficiency and at the same time, in our design, we need to choose proper value of components in order to get maximum possible output.
Part c
If we talk of efficiency then NO, there is no other efficient way of doing this. However in term of possibility, Yes we can use solar cells to produce DC directly.