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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).
frequency: The number of oscillations (vibrations) in one second. Frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz), which is the same as oscillations per second or cycles per second.. For example, the alternating current in a wall outlet in the U.S. and Canada is 60Hz.requency (wave motion). The number of times which sound pressure, electrical intensity, or other quantities specifying a wave vary from their equilibrium value through a complete cycle in unit time. The most common unit of frequency is the hertz (Hz), which is equal to 1 cycle per second.