Your friend says that according to Ohm's law, a high voltage produces a high current. Then he asks you that, then, how is it possible to transmit energy at high voltage and low current in a transmission line? What is your enlightening response

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Your friend says that according to Ohm's law, a high voltage produces a high current. Then he asks you that, then, how is it possible to transmit energy at high voltage and low current in a transmission line? What is your enlightening response.

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According to Ohm's law, every time the current in a circuit that flows through a resistance, the voltage is lower after it passes through it. This is called the voltage drop and there is a relationship between resistance, current, and voltage drop. (V = I * R). When losing voltage the consequence would be a low current. So how is it possible to transmit energy at high voltage and low current in a transmission line? As electricity is transmitted over long distances there is a loss of energy. The losses are calculated with the formula I ^ 2 * R, so the power losses are quadrupled, so the voltage will decrease. Then, high voltage lines are used in order to minimize the amount of energy that is lost. Because the higher the voltage, the lower the current. Consequently, by having a lower current, the resistance losses will be less and this will cause less energy to be lost. This can be presented with the power formula P = VI (Power = current x voltage). If the power is kept constant at a high resistance, the voltage will increase and the current will decrease since they are inversely proportional. This means that the same amount of power can be transmitted with high voltage and low current.

In conclusion, to be able to transmit energy over long distances at high voltae and low current in a transmission line, high voltage cables are used through a transformer to be able to transport the energy at a high voltage and low current, achieving with the objective of not losing energy when a large amount of energy is transmitted over a long distance.

 

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