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Copper Wire Properties & Gauge Conversions

Values presented here are standards available for many independent publications, but ultimately they all originate from the American Wire Gauge (AWG) system (also aka the Brown and Sharp gauge). It has been in existence since the mid 1800s in the U.S. and Canada.

Note that as wire gauge number is increased the wire diameter decreases. Although it might seem somewhat backward, there is a good reason for it. Originally, it was related to the number of time a wire needed to be drawn through an extraction die in order to achieve the final wire size.

By definition, 36 AWG is 0.0050 inches in diameter, and 0000 is 0.4600 inches in diameter. The ratio of these diameters is 92, and there are 40 gauge sizes from #36 to #0000, or 39 steps. Using this ratio, wire gauge sizes vary geometrically according to the following formula: The diameter of an n AWG wire is:


AWG wire diameter equation for solid wire - RF Cafe


Accordingly, the ASTM B 258-02 standard defines the ratio between successive sizes to be the 39th root of 92, or approximately 1.1229322.

AWG wire gauge equation for solid wire - RF Cafe


Stranding designation of a/b means a number of b gauge wires. E.g., 7/44 means 7 strands of 44 AWG solid wire.

See wire gauge conversion chart at bottom of page.  Values given at 25 °C.

AWGStrandingApprox. 0.D.Circular
Mil
Area
Weight
(lbs/1000 ft)
Weight
(kg/km)
Resistance
(Ω/1000 ft)
Resistance
(Ω/km)
Inches mm
40 Solid0.0031450.079889.8880.02993   
39 Solid0.0035310.0896912.470.03774   
38 Solid0.0039650.100715.720.04759   
37 Solid0.004453 0.113119.830.06001   
36 Solid0.0050000.127025.00 0.07568 0.113 445.0 1460.0
36 7/440.00600.15228.0 0.085 0.126 371.0 1271.0
35 Solid0.005614 31.520.09542   
34 Solid0.0063040.160139.750.12030.179280.09180.0
34 7/420.00750.19243.80.1320.196237.0777.0
33 Solid0.0070800.179850.130.1517   
32Solid 0.0079500.201963.210.19130.289174.0571.0
327/400.0080.20367.30.2030.302164.0538.0
3219/440.0090.22976.00.2300.342136.0448.0
31Solid0.0079500.226879.700.2413   
30Solid 0.010030.2548100.50.30420.45113.0365.0
307/38 0.0120.305112.00.3390.504103.0339.0
3019/42 0.0120.305118.00.3590.53487.3286.7
29Solid0.011260.2860126.70.3836   
28Solid 0.012460.3211159.8 0.48370.7270.8232.0
287/36 0.0150.381175.00.5290.78764.9213.0
2819/40 0.0160.406182.6 0.5530.82356.7186.0
27Solid0.014190.3604201.50.6100   
277/35 0.0180.457219.1 0.6640.98854.5179.0
26Solid 0.015940.4049254.1 0.76921.1443.6143.0
2610/36 0.0210.533250.00.7571.1341.5137.0
2619/38 0.0200.508304.00.9201.3734.4113.0
267/34 0.0190.483277.10.8411.2537.3122.0
25 Solid0.017900.4547320.40.9699   
24Solid 0.020100.5105404.0 1.2231.8227.389.4
247/320.0240.610448.0 1.362.0223.376.4
2410/340.0230.582396.1 1.20 1.7926.185.6
2419/360.0240.610475.0 1.432.1321.169.2
2441/400.0230.582384.4 1.161.7325.684.0
23Solid0.022570.5733509.51.542   
22Solid0.025350.6439642.4 1.9452.9116.855.3
227/300.0300.762700.0 2.123.1614.748.4
2219/340.0310.787754.12.283.3913.745.1
2226/360.0300.762650.01.972.9315.952.3
21Solid0.028460.7229810.12.452   
20Solid 0.031960.811810223.0924.6110.534.6
207/280.0380.96511113.495.1910.333.8
2010/300.0350.88910003.034.0510.333.9
2019/320.0370.94012163.705.488.628.3
2026/340.0360.91410313.124.6410.033.0
2041/360.0360.91410253.104.6110.032.9
19Solid0.035890.911612883.899   
18Solid 0.04031.02416244.9177.326.621.8
187/260.0481.21917695.367.985.919.2
1816/300.0471.19416004.847.208.521.3
1819/300.0491.24519005.758.565.517.9
1841/340.0471.19416274.927.326.420.9
1865/360.0471.19416254.917.316.421.0
17Solid0.045261.15020486.200   
16Solid0.050821.29125837.81811.604.213.7
167/240.0601.52428288.56 12.743.712.0
1665/340.0591.49925797.8111.624.013.2
1626/300.0591.49926007.8711.714.013.1
1619/290.0581.47324267.3510.944.314.0
16105/360.0591.49926257.9511.834.013.1
15Solid0.057071.450325712.43   
14Solid0.064081.628410712.4318.502.68.6
147/220.0731.854448013.5620.182.37.6
1419/270.0731.854383011.5917.252.78.9
1441/300.0731.854410012.4018.452.58.3
14105/340.0731.854416712.6118.772.58.2
13Solid0.071961.828517815.68   
12Solid0.080812.053653019.77   
11Solid0.090742.305823424.92   
10Solid0.10192.5881038031.43   
9Solid0.11442.9061309039.63   
8Solid0.12853.2641651049.98   
7Solid0.14433.6652082063.02   
6Solid0.16204.1152625079.46   
5Solid0.18194.62033100100.2   
4Solid0.20435.18941740126.4   
3Solid0.22945.82752640159.3   
2Solid0.25766.54366370200.9   
1Solid0.28937.34883690253.3   
0Solid0.32498.252105500319.5   
00Solid0.36489.266133100402.8   
000Solid0.409610.40167800507.9   
0000Solid0.460011.68211600640.5   


Wire Gauge Conversions
All Units Are in Inches
 
GAUGE # AWG W & M SWG BWG U.S. Standard
7/0 0.6513 0.490 0.500  0.5000
6/0 0.5800 0.460 0.464  0.4688
5/0 0.5165 0.430 0.432  0.4375
4/0 0.4600 0.3938 0.400 0.454 0.4063
3/0 0.4096 0.3625 0.372 0.425 0.3750
2/0 0.3648 0.3310 0.348 0.380 0.3438
1/0 0.3249 0.3065 0.324 0.340 0.3125
1 0.2893 0.2830 0.300 0.300 0.2813
2 0.2576 0.2625 0.276 0.284 0.2656
3 0.2294 0.2437 0.252 0.259 0.2391
4 0.2043 0.2253 0.232 0.238 0.2242
5 0.1819 0.2070 0.212 0.220 0.2092
6 0.1620 0.1920 0.192 0.203 0.1943
7 0.1443 0.1770 0.176 0.180 0.1793
8 0.1285 0.1620 0.160 0.165 0.1644
9 0.1144 0.1483 0.144 0.148 0.1495
10 0.1019 0.1350 0.128 0.134 0.1345
11 0.0907 0.1205 0.116 0.120 0.1196
12 0.0808 0.1055 0.104 0.109 0.1046
13 0.0719 0.0915 0.092 0.095 0.0897
14 0.0641 0.0800 0.080 0.083 0.0747
15 0.0571 0.0720 0.072 0.072 0.0673
16 0.0508 0.0625 0.064 0.065 0.0598
17 0.04526 0.054 0.056 0.058 0.0538
18 0.04030 0.0475 0.048 0.049 0.0478
19 0.03589 0.0410 0.040 0.042 0.0418
20 0.03196 0.0348 0.036 0.035 0.0359
21 0.02846 0.03175 0.032 0.032 0.0329
22 0.02535 0.0286 0.028 0.028 0.0299
23 0.02257 0.0258 0.024 0.025 0.0269
24 0.02010 0.0230 0.022 0.022 0.0239
25 0.01790 0.0204 0.020 0.020 0.0209
26 0.01594 0.0181 0.018 0.018 0.0179
27 0.01420 0.0173 0.0164 0.016 0.0164
28 0.01264 0.0162 0.0148 0.014 0.0149
29 0.01126 0.0150 0.0136 0.013 0.0135
30 0.0103 0.014 0.0124 0.012 0.0120
31 0.00893 0.0132 0.0116 0.010 0.0109
32 0.00795 0.0128 0.0108 0.009 0.0102
33 0.00708 0.0118 0.0100 0.008 0.0094
34 0.00630 0.0104 0.0092 0.007 0.0086
35 0.00561 0.0095 0.0084 0.005 0.0078
36 0.00500 0.0090 0.0076 0.004 0.0070
37 0.00445 0.0085 0.0068   
38 0.00396 0.0080 0.0060   
39 0.00353 0.0075 0.0052   
40 0.00314 0.007 0.0048   
41 0.00279 0.0066 0.0044   
42 0.00249 0.0062 0.0040   
43 0.00221 0.0060 0.0036   
44 0.00198 0.0058 0.0032   
45 0.00176 0.0055 0.0028   
46 0.00157 0.0052 0.0024   
47 0.00140 0.0050 0.0016   
48 0.00124 0.0048 0.0012   
49 0.00111 0.0046 0.0010   
50 0.00099 0.0044    
51 0.00088     
52 0.00078     
53 0.00070     
54 0.00060     
55 0.00050     
56 0.00040     
  • AWG = American Wire Gauge (Brown & Sharpe)
  • W & M = Washburn & Moen (steel wire gauge)
  • SWG = Imperial Standard Wire Gauge
  • BWG = Birmingham or Stubs Wire Gauge
  • US Standard = United States Standard (Revised)

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