___ power is the work performed by the load or circuit.

___ power is the work performed by the load or circuit.

• A. Active
• B. True
• C. Apparent
• D. Reactive

Answer: (A)

Active power is the work actually performed by the load or circuit. It represents the energy per unit time that is converted into useful forms like heat, light, or motion. This is the portion of the total power that does real work, and it’s what you get when you multiply voltage and current by the cosine of the phase angle between them: P = V_rms × I_rms × cos(phi). If the circuit is purely resistive, phi is zero and all the power is active. If there are reactive elements, some energy is temporarily stored and returned, so reactive power exists and the active portion is less than the total apparent power (S = V_rms × I_rms). Apparent power is the product of voltage and current without regard to phase, and reactive power is the energy stored and released by reactive elements. In many contexts, true power is used synonymously with active (real) power, but the key idea is that this is the work actually performed by the load.

Active power is the work actually performed by the load or circuit. It represents the energy per unit time that is converted into useful forms like heat, light, or motion. This is the portion of the total power that does real work, and it’s what you get when you multiply voltage and current by the cosine of the phase angle between them: P = V_rms × I_rms × cos(phi). If the circuit is purely resistive, phi is zero and all the power is active. If there are reactive elements, some energy is temporarily stored and returned, so reactive power exists and the active portion is less than the total apparent power (S = V_rms × I_rms). Apparent power is the product of voltage and current without regard to phase, and reactive power is the energy stored and released by reactive elements. In many contexts, true power is used synonymously with active (real) power, but the key idea is that this is the work actually performed by the load.