+hat is the resistance of 1444 ft of copper wire 5specific resistance 3 14.

67 given a
cross!sectional area of 1464 circular mil 5cmil7 and a wire temperature of 248%,
'. 5 C
(. 2 C
%. 50 C
D. 500 C
%'# answer
+he resistance of a length $%& of a con!uctor can be !etermine! using the specific
resistance an! the cross)sectional area $& in cmil by using the equation : D r%8. +he
correct answer is ', 1 9.
:eference3 Hughes' Programmable Controllers' IS Press 2005.
Cmil is worth reviewing. :ecall electrons flow through large)!iameter wires easier than
small)!iameter wires' !ue to the greater cross)sectional area they have to move.
:ather than measure small wire si-es in inches' the unit of *mil* $585000 of an inch& is
common. +he cross)sectional area of a wire can be in terms of square units $square inches
or square mils&' circular mils' or gauge scale.
Calculating square)unit wire area for a circular wire involves the circle area formula3
DEr
2
$Square units&
Calculating circular)mil wire area for a circular wire is much simpler because the unit of
circular mil exists Fust for this purpose' to eliminate the pi an! the !82 $ra!ius& factors in
the formula.
D!
2
$Circular units&
+here are E $7.5G5H& square mils for every G circular mils.
1 $cto#er 2005
ISA Certified Control Systems Technician (CCST) Program
This question is from the Level III study guide, Domain 2, Loop checking.