Understanding Alternating Current (AC)

[Mr_Bojingles]

Im new to electronics and the whole concept of AC current is making my brain hurt.

From what I've gathered AC current unlike DC moves back and forth. The electrons don't just flow straight around the circuit but theyre constantly moving back and forth.

When it comes to Hertz and fluctuation are they talking about how many times the electrons flow back and forth or are they talking about fluctuations in the actual voltage or amperage?

When they say fluctuation is it the fluctuation of voltage jumping from 10 volts to 8 volts and back again or what?

I was reading that rectifying a circuit is converting the current from AC to DC and can be done with the use of a diode. Does that mean you have AC current until it hits the diode and the rest of the current past that point will be DC?

 

[berkeman]

Welcome to the PF, Mr Bojingles. There are two resources that I'l like to point you toward to help you in your early learning about electronics. The first is www.wikipedia.org -- it is not a great website for advanced topics, but for basic EE stuff, it is generally fine. Just go there and enter some search topics, and have fun learning new stuff!

The second is a very good and practical introductory electronics textbook that I like to recommend for self-study: "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill. If you have a technical library near you (or maybe even a regular city library), check it out. Or you can buy a copy from Amazon.com or your favorite book source -- I don't think you will be disappointed with your purchase. Read that book from cover-to-cover, and you will have a very good basic understanding of introductory electronics.

I'd ask that you search on these above questions of yours at wikipedia first, please, and then absolutely post questions here if you read something that does not make sense. We are a lot more effective in answering technical questions in the main Physics and Engineering forums if the original poster (OP -- that's you) has done a little research on their own, and has specific questions about the technical material they've studied.

Again, welcome to the PF!