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[ | Advantages and disadvantages: |
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The advantages of AC over DC hinge on its high voltage transmission and frequency property (see corresponding diagrams). Since alternating current operated on such a low current, there was little power dissipation, even over exceptionally long distances with minimal energy dissipation (AC/DC: What's the Difference?). This was due to the fact that the electrons did not move very far and consequently did not generate a lot of heat due to friction of motion. Direct current however, "ran out of pressure [(effective power deliverance)] about half a mile from the power station" (Lomas 65). This limitation meant that direct current needed high gauge copper wire (expensive) and a power station effectively in one's back yard (inconvenient). It is these factors which ultimately limited direct current to the extremely rich and made technologies like the telephone and "the electro-magnetic telegraph an impractical scheme" (Mendenhall 607). Alternating current however, could transmit comparably small amounts of electricity over very large distances, hundreds of miles, and it could be "stepped up" or "stepped down" as needed for its end process effectively giving it a high current at the end rather than along its entire length (Lomas 66).
It is these properties which allowed alternating current to extend the range of human interaction and influence to the limit. Power could be generated at remote locations and transmitted over long distances (like in the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York), or generated in city centers and connected to the suburbs and neighboring cities, and states (Jonnes 123). Alternating current also extended the range of human interaction i.e. communication by extending the range of existing technologies such as the telegraph and the telephone across the United States and beyond. This meant that information known in one place could be quickly known across the entire country, effectively eliminating the connection between distance and time. Families no longer needed to be close to maintain effective communication. People could spread out and yet remain more connected than ever before. This societal narrative would continue into the future with the advent of more advanced technologies, all relying on alternating current.
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