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Copper is the electrical conductor in many categories of electrical wiring. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Copper wire is used in power generation , power transmission , power distribution , telecommunications , electronics circuitry, and countless types of electrical equipment . [ 5 ]
Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and as a constituent of various metal alloys, such as sterling silver used in jewelry, cupronickel used to make marine hardware and coins, and constantan used in strain gauges and thermocouples for temperature measurement.
The ampacity of a conductor, that is, the amount of current it can carry, is related to its electrical resistance: a lower-resistance conductor can carry a larger value of current. The resistance, in turn, is determined by the material the conductor is made from (as described above) and the conductor's size.
Electrical conductivity (or specific conductance) is the reciprocal of electrical resistivity. It represents a material's ability to conduct electric current. It is commonly signified by the Greek letter σ , but κ (especially in electrical engineering) [citation needed] and γ [citation needed] are sometimes used.
where is the length of the conductor, measured in metres (m), A is the cross-sectional area of the conductor measured in square metres (m 2), σ is the electrical conductivity measured in siemens per meter (S·m −1), and ρ is the electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance) of the material, measured in ohm-metres (Ω ...
In copper at 60 Hz, 3.2 m/s. As a consequence of Snell's Law and the extremely low speed, electromagnetic waves always enter good conductors in a direction that is within a milliradian of normal to the surface, regardless of the angle of incidence.
The International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS) is a standard established in 1914 by the United States Department of Commerce. [1] It is an empirically derived standard value for the electrical conductivity of commercially available copper .
However the better conductor will show a higher ratio between its AC and DC resistance, when compared with a conductor of higher resistivity. For example, at 60 Hz, a 2000 MCM (1000 square millimeter) copper conductor has 23% more resistance than it does at DC. The same size conductor in aluminum has only 10% more resistance with 60 Hz AC than ...