Peak-to-Peak, RMS Voltage, and Power

Where’s my notes from last week!

Alternating Current Defined

• In alternating current (ac), electrons flow back and forth through the conductor with some periodicity.

AC Vocabulary

Power in ACFinding the Effective Voltage

• The voltage used in power calculations in ac is the equivalent dc voltage value that would do the same amount of work (or heat) .

• A simple average of ac voltage is not quite good enough.

• A weighted average called Root Mean Square (RMS) is more accurate.

Okay – Important Points about RMS

• RMS is the equivalent value of dc voltage to do the same work.

• RMS is used in Power and Ohms Law formulas.

• The RMS voltage is 0.707 times the peak voltage.

• AC volt meters measure RMS voltage!!!!!

Converting Peak Voltage to RMS

Remember:

How to Use the Math

How to Use the Math

How to Use the Math