Electrical reactance

In electrical circuits, reactance is the opposition presented to alternating current by inductance and
capacitance.[1] Along with resistance, it is one of two elements of impedance; however, while both
elements involve transfer of electrical energy, no dissipation of electrical energy as heat occurs in reactance;
instead, the reactance stores energy until a quarter-cycle later when the energy is returned to the circuit.
Greater reactance gives smaller current for the same applied voltage.

Reactance is used to compute amplitude and phase changes of sinusoidal alternating current going through
a circuit element. Like resistance, reactance is measured in ohms, with positive values indicating inductive
reactance and negative indicating capacitive reactance. It is denoted by the symbol . An ideal resistor has
zero reactance, whereas ideal inductors and capacitors have zero resistance. As frequency increases,
inductive reactance increases and capacitive reactance decreases.

Comparison to resistance
Reactance is similar to resistance in that larger reactance leads to smaller currents for the same applied
voltage. Further, a circuit made entirely of elements that have only reactance (and no resistance) can be
treated the same way as a circuit made entirely of resistances. These same techniques can also be used to
combine elements with reactance with elements with resistance but complex numbers are typically needed.
This is treated below in the section on impedance.

There are several important differences between reactance and resistance, though. First, reactance changes
the phase so that the current through the element is shifted by a quarter of a cycle relative to the phase of the
voltage applied across the element. Second, power is not dissipated in a purely reactive element but is
stored instead. Third, reactances can be negative so that they can 'cancel' each other out. Finally, the main
circuit elements that have reactance (capacitors and inductors) have a frequency dependent reactance,
unlike resistors which have the same resistance for all frequencies, at least in the ideal case.

The term reactance was first suggested by French engineer M. Hospitalier in L'Industrie Electrique on 10
May 1893. It was officially adopted by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in May 1894.[2]

Capacitive reactance
A capacitor consists of two conductors separated by an insulator, also known as a dielectric.

Capacitive reactance is an opposition to the change of voltage across an element. Capacitive reactance
is inversely proportional to the signal frequency (or angular frequency ) and the capacitance .[3]

There are two choices in the literature for defining reactance for a capacitor. One is to use a uniform notion
of reactance as the imaginary part of impedance, in which case the reactance of a capacitor is the negative
number,[3][4][5]

Another choice is to define capacitive reactance as a positive number,[6][7][8]

 .

In this case however one needs to remember to add a negative sign for the impedance of a capacitor, i.e.
.

At , the magnitude of the capacitor's reactance is infinite, behaving like an open circuit (preventing
any current from flowing through the dielectric). As frequency increases, the magnitude of reactance
decreases, allowing more current to flow. As approaches , the capacitor's reactance approaches ,
behaving like a short circuit.

The application of a DC voltage across a capacitor causes positive charge to accumulate on one side and
negative charge to accumulate on the other side; the electric field due to the accumulated charge is the
source of the opposition to the current. When the potential associated with the charge exactly balances the
applied voltage, the current goes to zero.

Driven by an AC supply (ideal AC current source), a capacitor will only accumulate a limited amount of
charge before the potential difference changes polarity and the charge is returned to the source. The higher
the frequency, the less charge will accumulate and the smaller the opposition to the current.

Inductive reactance
Inductive reactance is a property exhibited by an inductor, and inductive reactance exists based on the fact
that an electric current produces a magnetic field around it. In the context of an AC circuit (although this
concept applies any time current is changing), this magnetic field is constantly changing as a result of
current that oscillates back and forth. It is this change in magnetic field that induces another electric current
to flow in the same wire (counter-EMF), in a direction such as to oppose the flow of the current originally
responsible for producing the magnetic field (known as Lenz's Law). Hence, inductive reactance is an
opposition to the change of current through an element.

For an ideal inductor in an AC circuit, the inhibitive effect on change in current flow results in a delay, or a
phase shift, of the alternating current with respect to alternating voltage. Specifically, an ideal inductor (with
no resistance) will cause the current to lag the voltage by a quarter cycle, or 90°.

In electric power systems, inductive reactance (and capacitive reactance, however inductive reactance is
more common) can limit the power capacity of an AC transmission line, because power is not completely
transferred when voltage and current are out-of-phase (detailed above). That is, current will flow for an out-
of-phase system, however real power at certain times will not be transferred, because there will be points
during which instantaneous current is positive while instantaneous voltage is negative, or vice versa,
implying negative power transfer. Hence, real work is not performed when power transfer is "negative".
However, current still flows even when a system is out-of-phase, which causes transmission lines to heat up
due to current flow. Consequently, transmission lines can only heat up so much (or else they would
physically sag too much, due to the heat expanding the metal transmission lines), so transmission line
operators have a "ceiling" on the amount of current that can flow through a given line, and excessive
inductive reactance can limit the power capacity of a line. Power providers utilize capacitors to shift the
phase and minimize the losses, based on usage patterns.

Inductive reactance is proportional to the sinusoidal signal frequency and the inductance , which
depends on the physical shape of the inductor:

.
The average current flowing through an inductance in series with a sinusoidal AC voltage source of
RMS amplitude and frequency is equal to:

Because a square wave has multiple amplitudes at sinusoidal harmonics, the average current flowing
through an inductance in series with a square wave AC voltage source of RMS amplitude and
frequency is equal to:

making it appear as if the inductive reactance to a square wave was about 19% smaller than
the reactance to the AC sine wave.

Any conductor of finite dimensions has inductance; the inductance is made larger by the multiple turns in
an electromagnetic coil. Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction gives the counter-emf (voltage
opposing current) due to a rate-of-change of magnetic flux density through a current loop.

For an inductor consisting of a coil with loops this gives:

The counter-emf is the source of the opposition to current flow. A constant direct current has a zero rate-of-
change, and sees an inductor as a short-circuit (it is typically made from a material with a low resistivity).
An alternating current has a time-averaged rate-of-change that is proportional to frequency, this causes the
increase in inductive reactance with frequency.

Impedance
Both reactance and resistance are components of impedance .

where:

is the complex impedance, measured in ohms;

is the resistance, measured in ohms. It is the real part of the impedance:
is the reactance, measured in ohms. It is the imaginary part of the impedance:
is the square root of minus one, usually represented by in non-electrical formulas. is
used so as not to confuse the imaginary unit with current, commonly represented by .

When both a capacitor and an inductor are placed in series in a circuit, their contributions to the total circuit
impedance are opposite. Capacitive reactance and inductive reactance contribute to the total
reactance as follows:
where:

is the inductive reactance, measured in ohms;

is the capacitive reactance, measured in ohms;
is the angular frequency, times the frequency in Hz.

Hence:[5]

if , the total reactance is said to be inductive;

if , then the impedance is purely resistive;
if , the total reactance is said to be capacitive.

Note however that if and are assumed both positive by definition, then the intermediary formula
changes to a difference:[7]

but the ultimate value is the same.

Phase relationship

The phase of the voltage across a purely reactive device (i.e. with zero parasitic resistance) lags the current
by radians for a capacitive reactance and leads the current by radians for an inductive reactance.
Without knowledge of both the resistance and reactance the relationship between voltage and current
cannot be determined.

The origin of the different signs for capacitive and inductive reactance is the phase factor in the
impedance.

For a reactive component the sinusoidal voltage across the component is in quadrature (a phase
difference) with the sinusoidal current through the component. The component alternately absorbs energy
from the circuit and then returns energy to the circuit, thus a pure reactance does not dissipate power.

See also
Magnetic reactance
Susceptance

References
Shamieh C. and McComb G., Electronics for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
 Meade R., Foundations of Electronics, Cengage Learning, 2002.
Young, Hugh D.; Roger A. Freedman; A. Lewis Ford (2004) [1949]. Sears and Zemansky's
University Physics (https://archive.org/details/relativity00unse) (11 ed.). San Francisco:
Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-8053-9179-7.

1. Veley, Victor F. C. (1987). The Benchtop Electronics Reference Manual (https://archive.org/d

etails/benchtopelectron00vele) (1st ed.). New York: Tab Books. pp. 229, 232.
2. Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Frederick Bedell, "Reactance" (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/docu
ment/4763812), Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, vol. 11, pp.
640–648, January–December 1894.
3. Irwin, D. (2002). Basic Engineering Circuit Analysis, page 274. New York: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
4. Hayt, W.H., Kimmerly J.E. (2007). Engineering Circuit Analysis, 7th ed., McGraw-Hill, p. 388
5. Glisson, T.H. (2011). Introduction to Circuit Analysis and Design, Springer, p. 408
6. Horowitz P., Hill W. (2015). The Art of Electronics, 3rd ed., p. 42
7. Hughes E., Hiley J., Brown K., Smith I.McK., (2012). Hughes Electrical and Electronic
Technology, 11th edition, Pearson, pp. 237-241
8. Robbins, A.H., Miller W. (2012). Circuit Analysis: Theory and Practice, 5th ed., Cengage
Learning, pp. 554-558

External links
Interactive Java Tutorial on Inductive Reactance (https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magn
et-academy/watch-play/interactive/inductive-reactance) National High Magnetic Field
Laboratory

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