Battle of the Currents

I'm tired and sore so let's make this one quick and snappy.

Direct Current:
Direct Current is the flow of electricity traveling in one direction, following the direction the medium (cable) goes.
A direct current transfers electricity in the single direction constantly, meaning that the electrons going from the source (cell, generator, etc) go in a constant stream without ever stopping unless the circuit breaks. This is why DC is sometimes described as Zero Frequency, because it never stops, it never starts for a second time in one setting.

The thing about DC is that it is not very economic at higher scales. A high voltage DC setup would require more resources than a high voltage AC setup. And you can expect high voltage currents to be able to travel longer distances, which is why DC is rarely used at larger scales.

They are however, great for small scale circuits, like electronic devices. They require less space, are easier to control and manage, and a lot easier to set up than AC. They great at running smaller machines during periods of light load and improving reliability.

Direct-current systems could be directly used with storage batteries, providing valuable load-leveling and backup power during interruptions of generator operation

Alternating Current:
AC - an electric current of which magnitude and direction vary, unlike direct current, whose direction remains constant.
Alternating current works by switching the current many times back and forth constantly. Going back to the source it came from

AC voltage may be increased or decreased with a transformer. Use of a higher voltage leads to significantly more efficient transmission of power.
This means that when transmitting a fixed power on a given wire, if the current is doubled, the power loss will be four times greater.
Thus, the same amount of power can be transmitted with a lower current by increasing the voltage. It is therefore advantageous when transmitting large amounts of power to distribute the power with high voltages (often hundreds of kilovolts).

 However, high voltages also have disadvantages, the main one being the increased insulation required, and generally increased difficulty in their safe handling (e.g any electronic device unfit to handle them would explode in a beautiful shower of electrons).
In a power plant, power is generated at a convenient voltage for the design of a generator, and then stepped up to a high voltage for transmission. Near the loads, the transmission voltage is stepped down to the voltages used by equipment. If not, then as i said previously; electronic device unfit to handle them would explode in a beautiful shower of potentially dangerous electrons.


AC can use high voltages with smaller current to reduce losses when you send power.
AC reduces the heating in the wires.
DC power would be sent but would lose a lot of energy and you would have to put more work in it to send it great distances.

BUT AC isn't used in electronic devices (like gadgets) because the set up would be too difficult to effectively use. It would be too large and too expensive for smaller electronic products looking for a larger market share using smaller prices.