voltage 110v VS 240v

[Detection]

Was talking to the missus earlier and somehow ended up with the whole 110v (US) vs 240v (UK) thing

So I started wondering, is there any difference in performance between the two regulations in each country

Why do we (UK) have 240v (230v) and the US and other places have 110v ?

Do you (The 110v people) have any less performance due to half the voltage?

or

Do we (The 240v people) have any better performance due to double the voltage ?

I know voltage does not represent power, ie. Tazers - but what pro's and con's do each regulation have ?

[Detection]

No-one knows ?

I find that hard to believe here ;)

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Well, the higher the voltage the lower the current, but thats basic physics. Less current means thinner cables and smaller components, but these days most power supplies from the UK or the US are capable of accepting 110-240 Volts AC, so none of that really matters much these days.

[HawkMan]

performance wise there's no difference. and in real life there's no difference. technically it's advantageous to use 110 I believe, but I don't remember the exact details right now.

[yxz]

All of Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and most of South America use a supply that is within 6% of 230 V, whereas Japan, Taiwan, North America and some parts of northern South America use a voltage between 100 and 127 V. The 230 V standard has become the most widespread so that standard 230 V equipment can be used in most parts of the world with the aid of an adapter or a change to the equipment's connection plug for the specific country. In the UK electricity is supplied at 230 V +10% - 6% (BS 7671 Appendix 2 section 14. )

The choice of utilization voltage is due more to historical reasons than optimization of the distribution system?once a voltage is in use and equipment using this voltage is widespread, changing voltage is a drastic and expensive measure. A 230 V distribution system will use less conductor material to deliver a given amount of power because the current, and consequently the resistive loss, is lower than for a 120 V system.

http://en.wikipedia....ins_electricity

During the development of commercial electric power systems in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many different frequencies (and voltages) had been used. Large investment in equipment at one frequency made standardization a slow process. However, as of the turn of the 21st century, places that now use the 50 Hz frequency tend to use 220-240 V, and those that now use 60 Hz tend to use 100-120 V. Both frequencies coexist today (Japan uses both) with no great technical reason to prefer one over the other[1] and no apparent desire for complete worldwide standardization.

http://en.wikipedia....ility_frequency

[spikey_richie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents