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Tl;dr - Because Westinghouse (60 Hz) beat out GE (50 Hz) in the early (~1910+) American AC electrical equipment market.
by ethbr1 2y ago
Tl;dr - Because Westinghouse (60 Hz) beat out GE (50 Hz) in the early (~1910+) American AC electrical equipment market.
- SigmundA 2y agoMy Tl;dr would be a little longer - early systems used both higher (around 130 hz) which caused issues with resonance and difficulties making induction motors, and lower (around 30hz) which caused light flicker. 50-60 hz solved these issues, Westinghouse thought 60hz was better for light flicker and beat out GE who settled on the 50hz standard used by it's European affiliate that moved up from 40hz due to flicker.
- cf100clunk 2y ago25hz too, mentioned in another thread.
- SigmundA 2y ago25hz is part of the "around 30hz" I mentioned. It was a compromise for the Niagra falls turbines between 16.7hz which was good for large motors at the time and flickering lights for which Westinghouse wanted at least 33.3hz.
- Analemma_ 2y agoIn Seattle you can take a tour of the Georgetown Steam Plant, which was an early power station. At one point they mention that the plant had two totally separate generators at different frequencies: one for household mains power and one for the electric streetcars.
- MBCook 2y agoBut that TLDR doesn’t answer why those companies chose those frequencies.