Title: alternating current
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - alternating current
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.A00252
Status: current

Definition
Current with sinusoidal wave forms; all other wave forms should be termed 'periodic'.

Related Term
- amplitude of alternating current: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/A00310

Source
- PAC, 1985, 57, 1491. 'Recommended terms, symbols, and definitions for electroanalytical chemistry (Recommendations 1985)' on page 1494 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac198557101491)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00252/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00252/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00252/xml

Citation: Citation: 'alternating current' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.A00252
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-04-18T11:07:19+00:00