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Also see current, voltage, and direct current. In electricity, alternating current (AC) occurs when charge carriers in a conductor or semiconductor periodically reverse their direction of movement. Household utility current in most countries is AC with a frequency of 60 hertz (60 complete cycles per second), although in some countries it is 50 Hz. The radio-frequency (RF) current in antennas and transmission lines is another example of AC. An AC waveform can be sinusoidal, square, or sawtooth-shaped. Some AC waveforms are irregular or complicated. An example of sine-wave AC is common household utility current (in the ideal case).
For an oscillating or varying current, frequency is the number of complete cycles per second in alternating current direction. The standard unit of frequency is the hertz, abbreviated Hz. If a current completes one cycle per second, then the frequency is 1 Hz; 60 cycles per second equals 60 Hz (the standard alternating-current utility frequency in some countries).