why are there cables at different speeds if they are all made of copper?
In: Physics
A few things affect how fast data can be made to travel:
– diameter or guage of the wire. The thicker the wire, the faster the data can go.
– shielding (metal foil or braid around the wires and cable). To prevent external “noise” from affecting the signal, wires can be wrapped in metal foil (good) or metal braid (better). And the whole assembly or wires (the “cable”) can also be wrapped in foil (good) or metal braid (bestter). The best would be metal braid around the wires AND the whole cable.
– twisting pairs of wires. Wires can be paired and then twisted. Depending on how much twisting (# of twists per length) and how well the twists are maintained by the cable, the faster you can transfer data. This is why you can’t overtighten cable hold-downs, and you can’t (shouldn’t) bend cables more than the spec. The faster the data, the more you have to obey these rules.
– quality of the connecting pins & sockets, metal/plastic connectors, quality of construction (both factory and as assembled in the field). Things like how thick is the gold on the pins. Things like stripping off just the right amount of insulation. The faster your data is going, the better all these things need to be.
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