Wire Gauge

Electrical Circuit Analysis > Resistance > Resistance of Circular Wires

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What is Wire gauge?

Wire gauge is a measurement of wire diameter. This determines the amount of electric current a wire can safely carry, as well as its electrical resistance and weight. The common standard for the diameter (gauge) of round drawn wire is the American Wire Gauge (AWG).

Fig. 1: Wire Gauge standard measuring device.

What is American Wire Gauge (AWG)?

American Wire Gauge (AWG) is a U.S. standard set of non-ferrous wire conductor sizes. The "gauge" means the diameter. Non-ferrous includes copper and also aluminum and other materials, but is most frequently applied to copper household electrical wiring and telephone wiring. Typical household wiring is AWG number 12 or 14. Telephone wire is usually 22, 24, or 26. The higher the gauge number, the smaller the diameter and the thinner the wire. Since thicker wire carries more current because it has less electrical resistance over a given length, thicker wire is better for longer distances. For this reason, where extended distance is critical, a company installing a network might prefer telephone wire with the lower-gauge, thicker wire of AWG 24 to AWG 26.

Wire Gauge vs. Diameter

Table. 1: Wire Gauge vs. Diameter
AWG gauge	Conductor Diameter Inches	Conductor Diameter mm	Ohms per 1000 ft.	Ohms per km	Maximum amps for chassis wiring
OOOO	0.46000	11.68400	0.0490	0.160720	380.000
OOO	0.40960	10.40384	0.0618	0.202704	328.000
OO	0.36480	9.26592	0.0779	0.255512	283.000
0	0.32490	8.25246	0.0983	0.322424	245.000
1	0.28930	7.34822	0.1239	0.406392	211.000
2	0.25760	6.54304	0.1563	0.512664	181.000
3	0.22940	5.82676	0.1970	0.646160	158.000
4	0.20430	5.18922	0.2485	0.815080	135.000
5	0.18190	4.62026	0.3133	1.027624	118.000
6	0.16200	4.11480	0.3951	1.295928	101.000
7	0.14430	3.66522	0.4982	1.634096	89.000
8	0.12850	3.26390	0.6282	2.060496	73.000
9	0.11440	2.90576	0.7921	2.598088	64.000
10	0.10190	2.58826	0.9989	3.276392	55.000
11	0.09070	2.30378	1.2600	4.132800	47.000
12	0.08080	2.05232	1.5880	5.208640	41.000
13	0.07200	1.82880	2.0030	6.569840	35.000
14	0.06410	1.62814	2.5250	8.282000	32.000
15	0.05710	1.45034	3.1840	10.443520	28.000
16	0.05080	1.29032	4.0160	13.172480	22.000
17	0.04530	1.15062	5.0640	16.609920	19.000
18	0.04030	1.02362	6.3850	20.942800	16.000
19	0.03590	0.91186	8.0510	26.407280	14.000
20	0.03200	0.81280	10.1500	33.292000	11.000
21	0.02850	0.72390	12.8000	41.984000	9.000
22	0.02540	0.64516	16.1400	52.939200	7.000
23	0.02260	0.57404	20.3600	66.780800	4.700
24	0.02010	0.51054	25.6700	84.197600	3.500
25	0.01790	0.45466	32.3700	106.173600	2.700
26	0.01590	0.40386	40.8100	133.856800	2.200
27	0.01420	0.36068	51.4700	168.821600	1.700
28	0.01260	0.32004	64.9000	212.872000	1.400
29	0.01130	0.28702	81.8300	268.402400	1.200
30	0.01000	0.25400	103.2000	338.496000	0.860
31	0.00890	0.22606	130.1000	426.728000	0.700
32	0.00800	0.20320	164.1000	538.248000	0.530
Metric 2.00	0.00787	0.20000	169.3900	555.610000	0.510
33	0.00710	0.18034	206.9000	678.632000	0.430
Metric 1.80	0.00709	0.18000	207.5000	680.550000	0.430
34	0.00630	0.16002	260.9000	855.752000	0.330
Metric 1.60	0.00630	0.16002	260.9000	855.752000	0.330
35	0.00560	0.14224	329.0000	1079.120000	0.270
Metric 1.40	0.00551	0.14000	339.0000	1114.000000	0.260
36	0.00500	0.12700	414.8000	1360.000000	0.210
Metric 1.25	0.00492	0.12500	428.2000	1404.000000	0.200
37	0.00450	0.11430	523.1000	1715.000000	0.170
Metric 1.12	0.00441	0.11200	533.8000	1750.000000	0.163
38	0.00400	0.10160	659.6000	2163.000000	0.130
Metric 1.00	0.00394	0.10000	670.2000	2198.000000	0.126
39	0.00350	0.08890	831.8000	2728.000000	0.110
40	0.00310	0.07874	1049.0000	3440.000000	0.090

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