Electric OU: Supplement: When does AC become DC ? Part 1
AC? DC? AC with DC offset? DC with AC offset? Whaaaat ?? A wiggly voltage level does not always mean AC. The letters stand for Alternating Current. This means that for it to be AC, the current must _alternate_, that is, change sign, cross the zero, reverse direction…. however you like to put it. AC can turn into DC with the same waveshape just by offsetting the waveform by adding or subtracting a constant voltage. Or even a changing one. AC with a DC offset makes sense only if the DC offset is less than that required to eliminate the zero crossing of the current… preventing it from Alternating, in other words Stay tuned for Part 2, where Boris and Natasha vary their frequencies.
