Our cookies

We use cookies, which are small text files, to improve your experience on our website.
You can allow or reject non essential cookies or manage them individually.

Reject allAllow all

More options  •  Cookie policy

Our cookies

Allow all

We use cookies, which are small text files, to improve your experience on our website. You can allow all or manage them individually.

You can find out more on our cookie page at any time.

EssentialThese cookies are needed for essential functions such as logging in and making payments. Standard cookies can’t be switched off and they don’t store any of your information.
AnalyticsThese cookies help us collect information such as how many people are using our site or which pages are popular to help us improve customer experience. Switching off these cookies will reduce our ability to gather information to improve the experience.
FunctionalThese cookies are related to features that make your experience better. They enable basic functions such as social media sharing. Switching off these cookies will mean that areas of our website can’t work properly.

Save preferences

Waveform and Frequency

Current can be generated as either pulsed direct current (DC) (Figure 2a), as from a battery switched on and off, which flows in one direction; or it can be an alternating current (AC) (Figure 2b), from the mains supply or a generator, where the direction of the current flow changes. The waveform of a current describes the shape of one cycle of the current.

DC AC

Figure 2a Pulsed direct current (DC) (three cycles)

Figure 2b Alternating current (AC) (one cycle)

 

The frequency of a current is how many times one cycle of the waveform is repeated per second, and is measured in hertz (Hz). Mains electricity has a sine waveform (Figure 2b) and a frequency of 50Hz, i.e. it repeats 50 times per second. Higher frequency waveforms repeat more times per second; e.g. the frequency of the current in Figure 3a is four times the frequency of the current in Figure 3b.

3a

Figure 3a Example of standard 200Hz frequency

 

3b

Figure 3b Example of Standard 50Hz Frequency

 

Next: Meat Quality

Back to top