Basic Difference Between Wires and Cables What’s the basic difference between Wires and Cables? List some of the basic differences between Wires and Cables Different uses of Wire and Cable Types of Wire and Cable Different advantages of using Wire and Cable

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Technical Arena in Electrical
Engineering
Basic Difference Between Wires and Cables

2. What’s the basic difference between Wires and Cables?
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 Wires and cables are the terms that are frequently used in the electrical and
communication field. But, people tend to get confused about both the terms as they
look similar, but actually are quite different. And in this article, we will be giving
you a brief description of the difference between wires and cables.

3. List some of the basic differences between Wires and Cables
 The basic key difference between wires and cables is that a wire is a single
conductor whereas a cable is a group of conductors.
 Although, these conductors are made of a common material- copper or
aluminium. Usually, the wires are bare and are twisted. But, some of the wires
are coated with thin PVC layer.
 And in case of cables, they run parallelly and are twisted or bonded together to
form a single case. For the safety purpose, an inner and outer sheath is made.
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4. Wire
 A wire is measured by diameter. According to the diameter of the wire, it will
be measured by a gauge number.
 The smaller the gauge number, the thicker the wire.
 The perfect gauge that is used in residential applications is 10 & 20. But, do
keep in mind that big wires carry more current and can damage household
appliances by burning the fuse.
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5. Cable
 A cable contains a hot wire carrying the current, a neutral wire to complete the
loop and a grounding wire as well.
 A cable is classified by the total number of wires it is made up of and their
gauge.
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6. Different uses of Wire and Cable
Use of Wire
 A wire is used to carry electricity, to bear the mechanical loads, to transmit
telecommunication signals, for heating jewellery, clothing, automotive or any
industrial manufactured parts like pins, bulbs and needles.
Use of Cable
 A cable is used for power transmission, for telecommunication signals or to
carry electricity.
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7. Types of Wire and Cable
Types of Electrical Wires
1. Solid – A solid wire has a single conductor and is either insulated or bare and it is
usually protected by a coloured sheath. This wire offers a lower resistance and is best
to use in higher frequencies.
2. Standard – A standard wire contains many thin wire strands that are twisted
together. These wires are used where the flexibility is required, standard wire can be
used over a long period of time. Comparatively, the standard wire has larger cross-
sectional area than the solid wire.
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8. Types of Electrical Cables
1. Twisted pair cable – A twisted pair cable includes 2 cables that are twisted
together. This twisting can avoid the noise produced by magnetic coupling and thus
it is used to carry signals. Twisted pair cable is generally used in data communication
and telecommunication.
2. Multi-conductor cable – This cable has 2 or more than 2 conductors which are
insulated and their purpose is to protect the signal integrity. Both twisted pair cables
and multi-conductor are known as balanced line configuration cables.
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Contd..

9. 3. Coaxial cable – A coaxial cable has an inner conductor which is surrounded by a
parallel outer foil conductor which is protected by insulating layers. In the cable, the
2 conductors are being separated from each other by an insulating dielectric. These
cables are generally used in TV cable as its performance is more stable than the
twisted pair cable.
4. Fibre optic cable – The fibre optic cable transmits the signals through a bunch of
glass threads and comparatively, it has a greater bandwidth than metal conductors
and that means they can carry more information and data. For this reason, fibre optic
cables are used instead of traditional copper cables.
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Contd..

10. Different advantages of using Wire and Cable
Advantages of Wire
 Using solid wire is perfect in case of higher frequencies and it offers low
resistance and cost. And the standard wire shows high resistance to the metal.
Advantages of Cable
 Cables are heavy duty, well insulated and have higher strength.
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11. Thank You
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