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6: Conductors

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    432904
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    Conductors are substances that conduct charge, which is typically electrons, although ions can also function as conductors within a circuit.

    • Have mobile charge particles, typically electrons
    • May be ions
    • Metals make good conductors
      • weakly held valence electrons
      • copper is a common metallic conductor
      • form wires
        • stranded
        • solid core
    • Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)
      • can result in very small circuits

    Wire Conductors

    • Resistance goes up as length increases
    • Resistance goes up as diameter decreases
    • Resistance depends on Materials
    • Connections often increase resistance
      • dissimilar metals can react
      • nonconducting  ionic compounds (typically oxides) can form
      • loose connections can increase resistance
    clipboard_e67cb817a3b4f8556248dc17d419bf753.pngFigure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Color coded solid core and standed wires. (Belford cc 0.0)

     

    AWG Gauge

    American Standard Wire Gauge - The higher the number  the thinner the wire

    clipboard_e5f220f886ba356b58f51dc8d7effe55b.pngFigure \(\PageIndex{2}\): AWG for non-ferrous metals. (BC Industry Training Authority, CC-BY-NC-SA)

     

    AWG Diameter (in) Diameter (mm) Resistance/length (mΩ/m) Resistance/length (mΩ/ft)
    0000 (4/0) 0.4600 11.684 0.1608 0.04901
    00 (2/0) 0.3648 9.266 0.2557 0.07793
    0 (1/0) 0.3249 8.251 0.3224 0.09827
    2 0.2576 6.544 0.5127 0.1563
    4 0.2043 5.189 0.8152 0.2485
    6 0.1620 4.115 1.296 0.3951
    8 0.1285 3.264 2.061 0.6282
    10 0.1019 2.588 3.277 0.9989
    12 0.0808 2.053 5.211 1.588
    14 0.0641 1.628 8.286 2.525
    16 0.0508 1.291 13.17 4.016
    18 0.0403 1.024 20.95 6.385
    20 0.0320 0.812 33.31 10.15
    22 0.0253 0.644 5 52.96 16.14
    24 0.0201 0.511 84.22 25.67
    26 0.0159 0.405 133.9 40.81
    32 0.00795 0.202 538.3 164.1
    40 0.00314 0.0799 3441 1049
    Table \(\PageIndex{1}\) : AWG wire data for copper conductors.

    Stranded vs. Solid Wires

    • Solid wires
      • not as flexible
      • preferred if flexibility is not needed
    • Stranded wires
      • flexible
      • need connectors to plug into breadboards
      • connectors often become loose and cause problems
    clipboard_e68573ee401cea3329b940dbb66a79cce.pngFigure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Examples of common solid and stranded wires used in bread boarding. (Belford CC-BY)

     

     

    Tutorials

     

     


    This page titled 6: Conductors is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Robert Belford.

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