Both alternating current and direct current are measured in amperes. But how is the ampere defined for an alternating current?
In a DC circuit, 1 Ampere is defined as 1 Coulomb per second, but for AC circuit, the direction of current keeps changing. Instead, Joule’s heating is used to define the rms value of AC current. This is done because Joule’s heating is independent of the direction of the current. RMS value of AC is equal to the value of DC required to generate the same amount of heat through a given resistor in a given time.