Know the Difference Between Wires and Cables

Know the Difference Between Wires and Cables The terms wires and cables are a term frequently used in the electrical and mechanical field.

Although both are quite different than each other and the differences are listed below.

One basic difference between a wire and a cable is that a wire is just a single conductor whereas a cable is made up of a group of conductors. If you look at the insides, a wire is usually bare and twisted while in the other hand cables run parallel to each other and are usually bonded together to form a single case.

Wire It is usually measured by its diameter and an instrument called gauge is used. In our household the wires having gauge number 10 and 20. Having thicker and bigger wires which carry more currents can sometimes severely damage your household appliances by burning the fuse.

Cables A cable is traditionally made up of a conductor or hot wore a neutral wire and a ground wire and this completes the circuit. A cable is further classified on the number of wires in contains and their gauge number.

Use of wires A wire has plenty of uses like to transfer telecommunication signals, carry electricity, automotive and heating up Noble metals.

Use of cables Use of cables is highly limited to transmitting power and telecommunication signals and carrying electricity.

Types of electrical wires 1. Solid- these kinds of wires often work on only one conductor and are either insulated or bare. Due to its less resistance these wires are used in higher frequencies 2. Standard- this is made by twisting up more than 2 wires together. It is used when flexibility is required. fep wires, fep insulated wires, and fep Teflon wires are a few examples of this type. These have a larger cross-sectional area than solid wires.

Types of electrical cables 1. Twisted pair cable- it includes two cables that are twisted together, the twisting can avoid noise by magnetic coupling and hence it is often used to transmit telecommunication signals.

2. Multiconductor cables- there are 2 or more than 2 conductors which are insulated and are often used as balanced line configuration cables.

3. Coaxial cables- this type has an inner cable conductor which is surrounded by outer foil conductors which are protected by insulating layers. The 2 conductors inside the cables are separated by an insulating dielectric, usually used in television sets.

4. Fibre optic cable- it transmits signals with a bunch of glass threads and has greater bandwidth which means it can transfer more amounts of information and data.

Although both wires and cables almost perform the same function, cables are used for a heavier duty work rather than wires. Both are in one way or another useful in almost all industries. Without them, the machinery cannot work.