Alternating-current effect

However, the scope of electrochemistry includes the transfer of electrical energy by oscillatory behavior of molecules or molecular assemblies, i.e., by alternating current phenomena. In the limit, direct current and alternating current effects can become indistinguishable. 

The effects of alternating currents are much less of a corrosion danger than those of direct currents. Experiments on steel have shown that during the positive half wave [34-37] only about 1 % contributes to the dissolution of iron according to Eq. (2-21). The remaining 99% is involved in the discharge of capacitances, of redox systems (e.g., Fe /Fe in surface films) or in the evolution of Oj by... 

In single-phase bridge circuits for ac connections and for very low ac output voltages below 5 V, single-phase center tap circuits are used as rectifier circuits for CP transformer-rectifiers. They have an efficiency of 60 to 15% and a residual ripple of 48% with a frequency of 100 Hz. A three-phase bridge circuit for three-phase alternating current is more economical for outputs of about 2 kW. It has an efficiency of about 80 to 90% and a residual ripple of 4% with a frequency of 300 Hz. The residual ripple is not significant in the electrochemical effect of the protection current so that both circuits are equally valid. 

There is an important practical distinction between electronic and dipole polarisation whereas the former involves only movement of electrons the latter entails movement of part of or even the whole of the molecule. Molecular movements take a finite time and complete orientation as induced by an alternating current may or may not be possible depending on the frequency of the change of direction of the electric field. Thus at zero frequency the dielectric constant will be at a maximum and this will remain approximately constant until the dipole orientation time is of the same order as the reciprocal of the frequency. Dipole movement will now be limited and the dipole polarisation effect and the dielectric constant will be reduced. As the frequency further increases, the dipole polarisation effect will tend to zero and the dielectric constant will tend to be dependent only on the electronic polarisation Figure 6.3). Where there are two dipole species differing in ease of orientation there will be two points of inflection in the dielectric constant-frequency curve. 

Alternating-current motors are classified as induction motors or synchronous motors. Faraday found that a stationaiy wire in a magnetic field produced no current. However, when the wire continues to move across magnetic lines of force, it produces a continual current. When the motion stops, so does the current. Thus Faraday proved that electric current is only produced from relative motion between the wire and magnetic field. It is called an induced current—an electromagnetic induction effect. 

German physicists Julius Elster and Hans F. Geitel invent the first photoelectric cell as a result of studying the photoelectric effect. The first hydroelectric generator at Niagara Falls, New York, produces alternating current from a Nikola Tesla design. 

Pick-up of stray current (a.c. or d.c.) (Section 10.5). Decreased use of d.c. in many areas has led to less possibilities of pick-up of direct current from utilities, mines, etc. The importance of grounded a.c. systems has been discounted, but Waters has shown that alternating currents can accelerate corrosion. Furthermore the rectifying effects of oxide films, clay minerals and other soil factors are not understood. 

To avoid the errors of polarisation and stray currents, special resistivity meters are employed. One form of these uses an alternating current produced from batteries by a vibrator. The effective resistance is measured by a modified Wheatstone bridge with balance indicated by a galvanometer. 

As already indicated conductimetric measurements are normally made with alternating current of frequency 103Hz, and this leads to the existence of capacitance as well as resistance in the conductivity cell. If the frequency of the current is increased further to 106 — 107 Hz, the capacitance effect becomes even more marked, and the normal conductivity meter is no longer suitable for measuring the conductance. 

Dielectric loss The dielectric loss factor represents energy that is lost to the insulator as a result of its being subjected to alternating current (AC) fields. The effect is caused by the rotation of dipoles in the plastic structure and by the displacement effects in the plastic chain caused by the electrical fields. The frictional effects cause energy absorption and the effect is analogous to the mechanical hysteresis effects except that the motion of the material is field induced instead of mechanically induced. 

Assume that we have a pendulum (Fig. 6-14) provided with a piece of soft iron P placed coaxially with a coil C carrying an alternating current that is, the axis of the coil coincides with the longitudinal axis OP of the pendulum at rest. If the coil is excited, one finds that the pendulum in due course begins to oscillate, and th oscillations finally reach a stationary amplitude. It is important to note that between the period of oscillation of the pendulum and the period of the alternating current there exists no rational ratio, so that the question of the subharmonic effect is ruled out. 

The transverse magnetization and the applied radiofrequency field will therefore periodically come in phase with one another, and then go out of phase. This causes a continuous variation of the magnetic field, which induces an alternating current in the receiver. Furthermore, the intensity of the signals does not remain constant but diminishes due to T and T2 relaxation effects. The detector therefore records both the exponential decay of the signal with time and the interference effects as the magnetization vectors and the applied radiofrequency alternately dephase and re-... 

Conductance of a solution is a measure of its ionic composition. When potentials are applied to a pair of electrodes, electrical charge can be carried through solutions by the ions and redox processes at the electrode surfaces. Direct currents will result in concentration polarization at the electrodes and may result in a significant change in the composition of the solution if allowed to exist for a significant amount of time. Conductance measurements are therefore made using alternating currents to avoid the polarization effects and reduce the effect of redox processes if they are reversible. 

Corona discharge discharge of a high frequency (10-20 kHz), high voltage (20 kV for example), alternating current in air at atmospheric pressure. This treatment has two effects ... 

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