ELECTRICAL

CONDUCTORS AND
WIRE SIZES
CONDUCTORS
👉 Electrical Conductors are wires over which an
insulating materials is formed and provide paths for
the flow of electric current.

WIRE SIZE
👉 is actual size of conductors without insulation.
👉 for heavy power circuits and as services entrance
leads into buildings, number 6 and 8 wires, which are
available either as solid or stranded are mostly used.
CONDUCTOR RESISTANCE
The resistance of a conductor depends on:
👉 the type of material used for the conductor such as
copper or aluminum
👉 the length of the conductor
👉 the cross-sectional area of the conductor
👉 the temperature of the conductor
MATERIAL:
👉 SILVER
👉 COPPER
👉 ALUMINUM
LENGTH
👉 the resistance of any conductor is directly
proportional to its length. In a particular wire, 2 feet
have twice as much resistance as 1 foot, 3 feet have
three times the resistance of 1 foot.
CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA
(CSA)
👉 The resistance of a wire is directly proportional to
its length and inversely proportional to its CSA. This
information can be written as a formula
KL
R= CM
👉 R = resistance of wire in ohms
👉 K = resistance per mil - foot of the wire (10.4 ohms
for copper)
👉 L = length in feet
CM = CSA = Cross - Sectional area in circular mils.
Example:
👉 Find the resistance of a No. 14 gauge copper wire,
175 feet long, from figure 8-4.

R = 10.4 × 175
4, 110
= 0.443 ohm
TEMPERATURE
👉 the resistance of a circuit or conductor is usually
constant and does not depend upon either current or
voltage.