Question

Why is AC attractive in nature and DC repulsive?
AC : Alternating current
DC : Direct current

Answer 1

AC and DC are different ways of transferring energy, but they are fundamentally the same thing. Think of current as a river. There are 2 ways to move water in the river (maybe more than 2 but let's keep it simple): the "flow" of the river and "waves". DC is "flow" and AC is "waves" for electricity. But the properties of water don't change depending on how it's moving, neither does electricity. However, electricity does attract and repel things, depending on the properties of materials. Most materials are attracted to charged objects through ionization, a.k.a. static electricity.

Electric shocks cause muscles to contract, if you happen to be holding onto a live cable, either AC or DC, in a way that uncontrolled muscle contraction caused by the shock would cause you to grip onto the cable, then you're going to be stuck.

In movies, you might see people being thrown across the room from an electric shock. That's actually possible in real life (but possibly less dramatic), it's your own muscles that throw you across the room as they involuntarily contract due to the shock (you may even break your own bones in the process).

Both AC and DC cause muscle contractions, AC causes repetitive contractions, but at mains frequency in most cases they both cause similar outcomes. There is however a few physiological differences on the heart - DC will stop fibrillation better than AC.

So whether it's AC or DC, if you touch a live wire with your palms, then your hand will probably convulse into a grip, causing you to grip onto the live wire. This is why those working with live wires are taught to always touch wires with the back of their hands.
AC is more dangerous, since its nature is attractive. at every sinusoidal reversal your body potential is reversed, thats why it is attractive. in case of DC source, its creates a capicitive effect, once your body is charged with DC potential then its repell the body from source.
also for same potential difference, lethality current range for DC is higher. it means you required higher current than AC to get shock in case of DC.generally 60 mA of AC (rms, 60 Hz) and 300–500 mA of DC can cause shock to human.

AC causes varying current .ie it produces a magnetic field around it.thus it is attractive
DC has no variation in its flow so it acts like a dia magnetic in most casess