Real & reactive question

[Hrothgar]

What tests could be done to transform, store and compare the two forms of current? After all shouldn't we be able to devise strategies to measure the work they can do objectively?

[Allcanadian]

Ok I'll bite simply because no other person would touch this loaded question with a ten foot pole and I could hardly blame them, lol.

You are asking:

What tests could be done to transform, store and compare the two forms of current?

First there are not different forms of current there is one form defined as the motion of charges. If a charge moves this is defined as a current.
Power is (Volts x Amps) and Reactive Power is defined as Power which does no work (does not dissipate energy) while Real Power is defined as Power which does dissipate energy as real work.

Think of it this way, if I charged a capacitor from a battery then returned this power to the battery with no losses then I would call it Reactive Power.
If I charged a capacitor from a battery then returned the power to the battery but I lost some power along the way then the power I lost is Real Power.
Real power does work such as generating heat, turning a motor or lighting a light bulb.

After all shouldn't we be able to devise strategies to measure the work they can do objectively

Well this is like asking, if I have a pail of apples then how many oranges are there?. Again Real Power does Real Work and Reactive Power does not. You are asking how much work can Reactive power perform when it is defined as not doing any work.

I would brush up on the subject a bit, I know it took me a long time to get it all straight in my head but it's like riding a bicycle and once you have it you will never forget.

AC

[Dave45]

Pos Neg
Voltage Amperage

reactive power is bemf from the coil that is trapped and dissipated as heat, a coil that is hit from both sides as in alternating current will have bemf on both sides............reactive power.

When pos and neg combine they become neutral and disappear or at least do not register with our meters, separated become electricity.

The ether is a normally combined state of pos and neg charges to collect they have to be separated, although some are separated which is realized as static electricity.

[Duncan]

when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, ... Sherlock

Hi Hrothgar The question and AC s answer brings this centre stage. Machinery has been badly effected by poor power factor from the conception of a grid system. There are few electricians that haven’t had the stench of a motor cooked with no apparent reason in there nostrils at some time.
This then is one of the classic effects of running machines in a poor power factor situation that happen to have impedance conducive to the reactive content.
They get bloody hot and cook ! They also cook from the inside out! Or as EPD points out in certain circumstances with transformers and the like explode from the core of the machine … for no apparent reason.
Over the years of course industry has tried every conceivable method to save their expensive machines. As A.C points out it has proved almost impossible as there is supposedly no real power in any sense we officially comprehend or have the maths and science to manipulate and so of course nothing to measure and indicate when things are going very wrong.
The electrical industry explained this away as 'massive circulating currents'. Which of course also nicely describes resonance and series resonance at that ( as its current)
In practice the only answer Industry has found to this powerful force is to measure the secondary effect of it and that's HEAT.
obviously measuring power input is quite useless as A.C points out and the only remedy arrived with the bead thermistor as it could be buried in the windings and measure the effects HEAT directly



Here then is a possible answer to your question if there is anything that’s archetypical of energy its certainly HEAT, In this situation then huge heat is being generated from an unknown unmeasurable source ….
Taking this odd situation of heat being generated from an unmeasurable and so uncontrollable source industry has moved forward a little for machines in critical situations at great expense … they wind the core alongside micro bore pipes carrying refrigerant. Of course they are not interested in the energy gain in this situation only the survival of the machine. However here is a possible starting point to consider … that is measure what is there with no known explanation. interesting subject with no easy answer, as A.C says no one wants to touch this subject with a barge pole