JohnGaltLine posted:Ace posted:... a store clerk ... said stranded wire was better because electricity travels on the surface of the wire, and stranded wire has lots more surface area ...
... only applies to very high frequency current ...
cjack posted:Actually it's partially true. But not in this case. It's the omissions of details that were left out. Higher frequency current does travel on the surface of the wire. It's called skin effect.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect
In the case of ordinary stranded wire, the surface area does not increase much since the wires are all shorted together. Stranded Litz wire does have a reduced resistance to higher frequency ac current because all the strands are insulated from each other...
That's very interesting. Thanks for the info, guys.
