Ham Radio General Class Practice Test

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What portion of the AC cycle is converted to DC by a full-wave rectifier?

90 degrees
180 degrees
270 degrees
360 degrees

The correct answer is: 360 degrees

A full-wave rectifier converts the entire AC cycle into DC. In other words, it utilizes both halves of the AC waveform, flipping the negative half to become positive, thus providing a continuous flow of current regardless of the AC cycle phase. In a standard AC waveform, there are 360 degrees in one complete cycle. Therefore, since the full-wave rectifier processes the entire cycle, the correct answer is that it converts 360 degrees of the AC cycle to DC. This ensures that the output is smoother and more consistent than what a half-wave rectifier would provide, which only converts 180 degrees of the cycle, leaving the other half unutilized. Understanding this conversion is crucial for applications in electronics where efficient power supplies and signal processing are needed.