AWG - technical definition

The standard measurement of gauge in United States for all metals other than iron and steel.The gauge numbers are retrogressive; in other words, the larger the number, the thinner the conductor. The AWG number indicates the approximate number of wires that, laid side-byside, span one inch. Historically, the AWG number indicated the number of times during the manufacturing process that the copper wire was cold drawn through the wire machine, with each draw involving a die of slightly smaller diameter in order to reduce the diameter of the wire a bit more.The contemporary process involves many fewer draws. A 24-gauge (AWG) wire, for example, has a diameter of 0.0201 in. (0.511mm), a weight of 1.22 lbs/kft (1.82 kg/km), maximum break strength of 12.69 lbs (5.756 kg), and DC resistance ohms of 25.7/kft (84.2/km). Twisted-pairs commonly employed in telco networks vary from 19 to 28 gauge, with the most common being 24 gauge. Table A-3 provides diameter, weight, and resistance comparisons of bare copper wire gauges.AWG originally was known as Brown and Sharp (B&S) Wire Gauge. See also gauge, Imperial Standard Wire Gauge, and metric gauge.

Table A-3: American Wire Gauge (AWG): Select Physical Attributes

AWG	Nominal Diameter	Nominal Weight	Nominal Resistance
	Inches	Millimeters	lb/kft	kg/km	Ohms/kft	Ohms/km
10	.1019	2.60	9.55	46.78	0.9989	3.2763
11	.0907	2.30	7.57	37.09	1.2596	4.1328
12	.0808	2.05	6.00	29.42	1.5883	5.2086
13	.0720	1.83	4.76	23.33	2.0028	6.5698
14	.0641	1.63	3.78	18.50	2.5255	8.2820
15	.0571	1.45	2.99	14.67	3.1845	10.444
16	.0508	1.29	2.37	11.64	4.0156	13.172
17	.0453	1.15	1.88	9.219	5.0636	16.610
18	.0403	1.02	1.49	7.313	6.3851	20.942
19	.0359	0.912	1.18	5.807	8.0514	26.407
20	.0320	0.812	0.939	4.600	10.153	33.292
21	.0285	0.724	0.745	3.649	12.802	41.984
22	.0253	0.643	0.591	2.895	16.143	52.939
23	.0226	0.574	0.468	2.295	20.356	66.781
24	.0201	0.511	0.371	1.820	25.669	84.197
25	.0179	0.455	0.295	1.443	32.368	106.17
27	.0142	0.361	0.185	0.9077	51.467	168.82
28	.0126	0.320	0.147	0.7198	64.898	212.87
29	.0113	0.287	0.117	0.5712	81.835	268.40
30	.0100	0.254	0.0924	0.4531	103.19	338.50
31	.0089	0.227	0.0733	0.3577	130.12	426.73
32	.0080	0.203	0.0581	0.2847	164.08	538.25
33	.0071	0.180	0.0461	0.2250	206.90	678.63
34	.0063	0.160	0.0365	0.1790	260.90	855.75
35	.0056	0.143	0.0290	0.1415	328.99	1079.1
36	.0050	0.127	0.0230	0.1126	414.85	1360.0
37	.0045	0.113	0.0182	0.0890	523.11	1715.0
38	.0040	0.102	0.0145	0.0708	659.63	2163.0