The current flow, in general, is lower in electronic appliances, which need thinner wires, but some devices use special wires. Basically the reader will find three types of wires in electronic work:
A. Cable-formed by a core of several copper conductors and covered by plastic insulation.
B. Rigid-formed by a core with only one conductor covered by plastic insulation.
C. Bare-formed by a copper conductor without cover (insulation).
D. Screened and Coaxial-formed by a core with one or more plastc covered conductors. These conductors are enveloped by a copper screen. Over the entire cable there is a plastic cover.
The plastic-covered wires can be found in several forms including single wires, twisted wires, flat cable, etc. Figure 1 shows some types of wire used in common wiring of electronic circuits and parts.
AWG (American Wire Gauge) is a special type of enameled wire that is used in some electronic (and also electric) components such as coils, relays, solenoids, motors, magnetic sensors, loudspeakers, earphones, and many others. AWG is a standard U.S. set of nonferrous wire conductor sizes.
The gauge is referring to the diameter. This standard is mostly applied to copper household wiring and telephone wiring. AWG is sometimes known as Brown and Sharpe (8&8) Wire Gauge, also.
AWG enameled wire is formed by a rigid copper wire insulated by a cover of enamel. The diameter of the wire determines the amount of current it can conduct. The diameter of a wire can be expressed in millimeters, mils, or by an AWG number. The higher the AWG number of a wire, the smaller the diameter. Table below shows the characteristics of the AWG wires used in electronics.
