Why are electrical wires made up of loads of tiny copper fibres instead of one fat copper wire?

Question

Title essentially. What advantage does having loads of fibres have over one solid piece? Flexibility?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Solid wires are difficult to bend and limits how tight of bend you can make before damaging the wire. Solid wires also are heavier since they have metal filling the spaces between the bundle of thin wires.

With that said, for high current applications, you still need solid wires to transfer the power without excessive losses.