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Wire sized 1 AWG is referred to as "one gauge" or "No. 1" wire; similarly, thinner sizes are pronounced "x gauge" or "No. x" wire, where x is the positive-integer AWG number. Consecutive AWG wire sizes thicker than No. 1 wire are designated by the number of zeros: No. 0, often written 1/0 and referred to as "one aught" wire
A table of the gauge numbers and wire diameters is shown below. [1] [2] The basis of the system is the thou (or mil in US English), or 0.001 in. Sizes are specified as wire diameters, stated in thou and tenths of a thou (mils and tenths). The wire diameter diminishes with increasing size number.
Comparison of SWG (red), AWG (blue) and IEC 60228 (black) wire gauge sizes from 0.03 to 200 mm² to scale on a 1 mm grid – in the SVG file, hover over a size to highlight it. In engineering applications, it is often most convenient to describe a wire in terms of its cross-section area, rather than its diameter, because the cross section is directly proportional to its strength and weight ...
In commerce, the sizes of wire are estimated by devices, also called gauges, which consist of plates of circular or oblong form having notches of different widths around their edges to receive wire and sheet metals of different thicknesses. Each notch is stamped with a number, and the wire or sheet, which just fits a given notch, is stated to ...
Trapezoidal-shaped wire (TW) can be used in lieu of round wire in order to "fill in the gaps" and have a 10–15% smaller overall diameter for the same cross-sectional area or a 20–25% larger cross-sectional area for the same overall diameter.
For example, one common wire size used in the NEC has a conductor diameter of 0.5 inches, or 500 mils, and thus a cross-section of = circular mils, written as 250 kcmil or 250 MCM, which is the first size larger than 0000 AWG used within the NEC.
A wire or cable has a voltage (to neutral) rating and a maximum conductor surface temperature rating. The amount of current a cable or wire can safely carry depends on the installation conditions. The international standard wire sizes are given in the IEC 60228 standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission.
A power cable is an electrical cable, an assembly of one or more electrical conductors, usually held together with an overall sheath. The assembly is used for transmission of electrical power . Power cables may be installed as permanent wiring within buildings, buried in the ground, run overhead, or exposed.