The Alternate Current and Transformers

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Transformers: Making Alternate Currents Possible

By: Kyle Wang

3/15/19

When people first hear transformer, they might think about the cool robots that save the world. However, the transformers that I am talking about are way cooler and without them, we would not be able to power our homes and buildings. Although you may not recognize these transformers at first sight, they are fairly common. Although they look quite humdrum, these transformers are critical in the lighting of our buildings since the late 1800s.

After Nikola Tesla left Thomas Edison's company to work create his own company, he began the building the alternate currents. Thomas Edison wanted to build direct currents. Although it was safer, it was more expensive and could not produce as much power as alternating currents could. For this reason, he believed that alternating currents would be a smarter way to power a city. In the end, 99.99 percent of all electricity is powered by alternating currents. Although Tesla's design was more successful, he never earned the recognition that he should have received, and died a couple of years later.

In alternating currents, the currents periodically reverse. Its electric charge quickly goes from zero hertz to its maximum number hertz many times in one second. According to Britannica, in domestic and commercial power cycles about 50 to 60 times per second, while televisions cycles about 100,000,000 times per second. Like I mentioned earlier, the alternating current is really fast, however it is extremely dangerous. This is because alternate currents can send up to 100,000 volts at a time to different households, which is certainly dangerous enough to kill someone. So how do we make these voltages suitable for use at home? We use the transformer.

The voltage transformer is able to take a voltage level of 100,000 and bring it down to a much safer voltage, such as 100. This electrical component links together two or more electrical circuits using a common oscillating magnetic circuit. The transformer also uses mutual induction, which is when a coil of wire electrically induces a voltage into another coil located close to the transformer. These things are also able to increase voltage if ever needed, such as cooking things faster, although it might not be as practical for those kind of situations.

Without Nikola Tesla and the power of the transformer, who knew how many more years it would take until we would finally see light bulbs. Before bulbs, we had candles that were dangerous. Knock it over, and things could catch on fire. However, thanks to the transformer, electricity can be supplied cheaply to many homes, and the transformer would make it safe. However, the biggest problem with electricity is that fossil fuels are usually required to produce electricity, which is harmful. The next steps for the most perfect form of electricity is to use a renewable source, which would not only be cheaper, but also safer than fuels.
(how they affect our lights)

Image result for transformer
The common transformer near your house.
Image result for nikola tesla
The genius behind it all.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/science/alternating-current
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/alternating-current-ac-vs-direct-current-dc/all
https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/transformer/transformer-basics.html

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