Copper wire

Copper has been used in electric wiring since the invention of the electromagnet and the telegraph in the 1820s. The invention of the telephone in 1876 created further demand for copper wire as an electrical conductor.

Copper is the electrical conductor in many categories of electrical wiring. Copper wire is used in power generation, power transmission, power distribution, telecommunications, electronics circuitry, and countless types of electrical equipment. Copper and its alloys are also used to make electrical contacts. Electrical wiring in buildings is the most important market for the copper industry. Roughly half of all copper mined is used to manufacture electrical wire and cable conductors.

Electrical conductivity is a measure of how well a material transports an electric charge. This is an essential property in electrical wiring systems. Copper has the highest electrical conductivity rating of all non-precious metals: the electrical resistivity of copper = 16.78 nΩ•m at 20 °C. Specially-pure Oxygen-Free Electronic (OFE) copper is about 1% more conductive (i.e., achieves a minimum of 101% IACS).

The theory of metals in their solid state helps to explain the unusually high electrical conductivity of copper. In a copper atom, the outermost 4s energy zone, or conduction band, is only half filled, so many electrons are able to carry electric current. When an electric field is applied to a copper wire, the conduction of electrons accelerates towards the electropositive end, thereby creating a current. These electrons encounter resistance to their passage by colliding with impurity atoms, vacancies, lattice ions, and imperfections. The average distance travelled between collisions, defined as the “mean free path,” is inversely proportional to the resistivity of the metal. What is unique about copper is its long mean free path (approximately 100 atomic spacings at room temperature). This mean free path increases rapidly as copper is chilled.

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