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<blockquote data-quote="helotaxi" data-source="post: 2400343" data-attributes="member: 550915">The origin of the diameters used from what I&#039;ve found was based on resistance of copper wire of that thickness.&nbsp; 10ga has a resistance of 1 ohm per 1000&#039;.&nbsp; From there it is a logrithmic scale to arrive at the other sizes based on cross-sectional area using the 10ga copper as the basis.&nbsp; Ferrous wire has differing measures.This explains exactly why wire with fewer thick strands usually looks much smaller than that with a ton of strands.&nbsp; The resistance is the same because the actual conducting area is the same, but the wire is not as flexible because of the thicker strands and doens&#039;t look as big so most people think that it isn&#039;t really the stated guage.&nbsp; A measure of resistance will indicate otherwise, getting back to my original point.&nbsp; I&#039;m not saying that everything sold as 4ga is but that you can&#039;t just look at the wire and tells what it is.The highlighted portion is the really important part here, and not just when shopping for wire.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="helotaxi, post: 2400343, member: 550915"] The origin of the diameters used from what I've found was based on resistance of copper wire of that thickness. 10ga has a resistance of 1 ohm per 1000'. From there it is a logrithmic scale to arrive at the other sizes based on cross-sectional area using the 10ga copper as the basis. Ferrous wire has differing measures. This explains exactly why wire with fewer thick strands usually looks much smaller than that with a ton of strands. The resistance is the same because the actual conducting area is the same, but the wire is not as flexible because of the thicker strands and doens't look as big so most people think that it isn't really the stated guage. A measure of resistance will indicate otherwise, getting back to my original point. I'm not saying that everything sold as 4ga is but that you can't just look at the wire and tells what it is. The highlighted portion is the really important part here, and not just when shopping for wire. [/QUOTE]

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