Lecture

The War of the Currents

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

In course

EE-106: Electrical engineering science & technology

Ce cours introduit les lois fondamentales de l'électricité et les méthodes permettant d'analyser des circuits électriques linéaires, composés de résistances, condensateurs et inductances. On commencera par le régime continu pour passer ensuite au régime al ...

Description

This lecture covers the historical controversy between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison regarding the use of alternating current (AC) versus direct current (DC) in the late 1880s. It explains the importance of sinusoidal regime in electrical circuits, the role of transformers, and the remarkable mathematical properties of sinusoidal functions. The lecture also delves into the achievements and bitter rivalry between Tesla and Edison, highlighting their contributions to electrical science and technology.

Instructors (3)

Roberto Zoia

Philippe Allenbach

Christian André Clément Lafforgue

Teaching & PhD Courses Electrical engineering science & technology EE-106 This course introduces the fundamental laws of electricity and the methods for analyzing linear electrical circuits, consisting of resistors, capacitors and inductors. We will start with the Direct Current circuits and then switch to single-phase and three-phase Alternating Current circuits.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Electrical engineering

Power engineering: Electric power transmission

Related concepts (30)

Direct current

Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even through a vacuum as in electron or ion beams. The electric current flows in a constant direction, distinguishing it from alternating current (AC). A term formerly used for this type of current was galvanic current.

Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the latter half of the 19th century after the commercialization of the electric telegraph, the telephone, and electrical power generation, distribution, and use.

Electric current

An electric current is a flow of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is defined as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface. The moving particles are called charge carriers, which may be one of several types of particles, depending on the conductor. In electric circuits the charge carriers are often electrons moving through a wire. In semiconductors they can be electrons or holes.

Electrical network

An electrical network is an interconnection of electrical components (e.g., batteries, resistors, inductors, capacitors, switches, transistors) or a model of such an interconnection, consisting of electrical elements (e.g., voltage sources, current sources, resistances, inductances, capacitances). An electrical circuit is a network consisting of a closed loop, giving a return path for the current. Thus all circuits are networks, but not all networks are circuits (although networks without a closed loop are often imprecisely referred to as "circuits").

Duality (electrical circuits)

In electrical engineering, electrical terms are associated into pairs called duals. A dual of a relationship is formed by interchanging voltage and current in an expression. The dual expression thus produced is of the same form, and the reason that the dual is always a valid statement can be traced to the duality of electricity and magnetism. Here is a partial list of electrical dualities: voltage – current parallel – serial (circuits) resistance – conductance voltage division – current division impedance – admittance capacitance – inductance reactance – susceptance short circuit – open circuit Kirchhoff's current law – Kirchhoff's voltage law.

Related lectures (32)

Short-Circuit Currents Calculation

Covers the calculation of short-circuit currents in electrical networks and the equivalent models of components.

Electrotechnique: Basics and Applications

Covers the basics of electrotechnique, including linear elements, current regimes, power types, and practical applications.

Electrical Circuits Basics

Introduces the basics of electrical circuits, covering elements, laws, Ohm's law, and series/parallel connections.

Calculation of Short-Circuit Currents

Explores the calculation of short-circuit currents in electrical networks, emphasizing symmetrical systems and nodal impedances.

Economic Dispatching: Marginal Costs and Power Plants

Covers economic dispatching, marginal costs, symmetrical components, and power flow optimization in electrical networks.

Related concepts (30)

Direct current

Electrical engineering

Electric current

Electrical network

Duality (electrical circuits)