Just 2 different ways of expressing area.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/mil-circular-mil-area-d_817.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_mil
http://www.calvertwire.com/metric_conversion.php
The areas of each individual strand in a multi-stranded conductor will collectively add up to a smaller number than the circular mil area of the conductor as a whole, for the very reason you name. The circular mill area of the conductor is not the sum of the areas of the strands, but rather the area of the smallest circle that can completely contain the entire conductor.If one were to place several same sized circles inside the area to be measured you still have gaps between the circles - how are these gaps included in the actual area. . . ?
This table shows the combined circular mil area of the strands about the same no matter how few or how many strands you have in the conductor. The OD of the conductor changes based on how many or how few strands you have.... The circular mill area of the conductor is not the sum of the areas of the strands, but rather the area of the smallest circle that can completely contain the entire conductor.
Umm... I believe you have that backwards. The circular mil area of a stranded conductor is the sum of the circular mil area of the individual strands.The areas of each individual strand in a multi-stranded conductor will collectively add up to a smaller number than the circular mil area of the conductor as a whole, for the very reason you name. The circular mill area of the conductor is not the sum of the areas of the strands, but rather the area of the smallest circle that can completely contain the entire conductor.
The areas of each individual strand in a multi-stranded conductor will collectively add up to a smaller number than the circular mil area of the conductor as a whole, for the very reason you name. The circular mill area of the conductor is not the sum of the areas of the strands, but rather the area of the smallest circle that can completely contain the entire conductor.
The areas of each individual strand in a multi-stranded conductor will collectively add up to a smaller number than the circular mil area of the conductor as a whole, for the very reason you name. The circular mill area of the conductor is not the sum of the areas of the strands, but rather the area of the smallest circle that can completely contain the entire conductor.
True as you state,,,,,to prove charlie's point if you use the figures shown in Table 8 for overall diameter to get to the square inches,,,,,you would use the established math formula pi x radius squared,,,,,when you extend that formula the answer is square inches and matches the number shown in Table 8 for area.
The confusion is we are dealing with cross sectional area and not linear area.
dick
I think it is easier to think of circular mil area measurement as a ratio to the area of a one mil circle. See table below. Note the circular mil area is just the square of the diameter in mils. The resulting measure still covers the area of concern (the shape doesn't really need to be circular). In measuring multiple circular areas, such as stranded conductor crosssection, only the circular areas are measured. The gaps are not included.Maybe I am wrong but isn't cross sectional area mentioned in the conductor property tables simply the amount of area of the circular side of a cylinder shaped object? The result being a two dimensional circle. Area of a two dimensional object is area, the definition of circular mil that I read is simply the area of a circle with a diameter of 1/1000 inches. Lay how many circles of that size across the surface of the object being measured gives you how many circular mils of area that object has. Now if we were measuring with squares, triangles, or other multi sided objects it is usually possible to cover all the measured space with no gaps between the objects used to make the measurement. Circles is not possible to lay out without voids between them in places. How does this work out to include the spaces not covered in the net total area?
mil diameter | area (in?) | circular mil area |
1 | 0.000000785398 | 1 |
2 | 0.000003141593 | 4 |
3 | 0.000007068583 | 9 |
4 | 0.000012566371 | 16 |
5 | 0.000019634954 | 25 |
6 | 0.000028274334 | 36 |
7 | 0.000038484510 | 49 |
8 | 0.000050265482 | 64 |
If you want to verify my assertion, go to Table 8 and choose any conductor having single stranding (18-8AWG). Take the square root of the circular mils and divide by 1000. The result will be the conductor diameter.... Note the circular mil area is just the square of the diameter in mils. ...
If you want to verify with stranded simply divide the circular mils by the number of strands before taking the square root and dividing by 1000.If you want to verify my assertion, go to Table 8 and choose any conductor having single stranding (18-8AWG). Take the square root of the circular mils and divide by 1000. The result will be the conductor diameter.
You need to rethink that statement...The answer would be all the little circles along with all the gaps they formed.
You need to rethink that statement
If you have a 1000 circular mil circle and try to cram 1000 one mil circles into it, you cannot do so without overlapping them.
That's why the overall diameter in Table 8 for stranded conductors is larger than single strand overall diameter (also why there is a "?" in the stranding column).
FWIW, circular mil measurement of circular objects simply take pi out of the diameter-area equation.
I added the 1000 value. Other than that, you said...LOL.....I didn't say you could put 1000 little circles in a 1000big circle ,you did....
...the summation of all the circular mils you can cram into a given circle is not what we are after we want to know the size of the circumscribed area of the circle that is around them.The answer would be all the little circles along with all the gaps they formed.
That's an entirely different issue. You are converting to a different unit of measure: Cmil -> mm?No pi remains in the formula, use 1000MCM as the example,it has a diameter of 29.26mm,using pi radius squared formila we expand thusly 29.26/2 squared X pi equals 672 mm which matches the area listed of 673mm.:thumbsup:
dick