What is reactive power?

ONE FEATURE of the Institute´s North Eastern District meeting to be held in Schenectady, N. Y., May 10–12, 1933, is a symposium on reactive power, held under the chairmanship of A. E. Knowlton. An introduction to this symposium prepared by Mr. Knowlton is presented herewith, following which are the 2 papers of the symposium available and approved in time for publication in this issue. One of these, by J. Allen Johnson, is written from the practical point of view, and the other, by V. G. Smith, is written from the theoretical point of view. Although these 2 papers do not cover all of the many factors involved in the discussion on reactive power, they are representative of different schools of thought.