Copper conducting heat

[Killa Klown]

When there is an electrical current running through copper what temperature or temperatures does the copper wire strand reach?

[J.C.MacSwell]

When there is an electrical current running through copper what temperature or temperatures does the copper wire strand reach?

 

It melts at 1984 degrees fahrenheit(1085 Celsius)

[Killa Klown]

Yeah, thanks for the information but I want to know what temperature the copper has when there is an electrical current running through it.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

That depends on the amount of current, the copper's resistance, and the ambient temperature.

[kanzure]

Hah, this reminds me of the heating copper thread over at chemicalforums.com ... but it's certainly not exactly related. How does the number of electrons flowing through copper per second influence what's going on? What does the picture look like?

 

Are the electrons being exchanged through the sea of electrons created by the conduction bands? Or are they following some definite path through the metallic structure that we should be aware of?

 

Many more questions.

 

- Bryan

[Killa Klown]

I'm talking about the copper like the one used in electrical wiring thats in household appliances, what temperature does the electrical current that is flowing through the electrical wiring reach when the appliance is connected to a household electrical plug?

[Klaynos]

I think you should probably do some reading on joule heating.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule_heating