Peak Voltage:
Peak voltage tell you how far the voltage swings, either positive or negative, from the point of reference. Peak voltage is only a moderately useful way of measuring voltage when trying to express the amount of work that will be done when driving a specified load.
RMS Voltage:
RMS voltage is absolutely the most common way to measure/quantify AC voltage. It is also the most useful. Because AC voltage is constantly changing and is at or near the highest and lowest points in the cycle for only a tiny fraction of the cycle, the peak voltage is not a good way to determine how much work can be done by an AC power source.
The RMS voltage of a pure‡ sine wave is approximately .707*peak voltage. If you read voltage with a voltmeter you are generally given the RMS voltage of the wave form.
So for your example the sine wave goes from 0 to 170V in the positive and then goes down to 170V in the negative. To find RMS (peak Voltage) x (0.707) this will give you 120V.
If you hooked up an osiliscope to a 120volt receptacle you would see the sinewave and would notice that the highest voltage that is recorded is 170volts. This is Peak Voltage. Its only there for a really, really short time. So use the RMS (RMS is .707 of Peak Voltage)
[This message has been edited by RobbieD (edited 01-29-2006).]
