Two cable questions


1) Why does skin effect occur if electricity always takes the path of least resistance? 2) Is silver a better conductor than copper with both AC and DC, or just one?
ezmeralda11
Silver conducts 106%, if copper conducts 100%, and whether the current alternates or not, should have no bearing. I believe that there is less resistance at the surface of conductors, so the electrons are taking the path of least resistance, and hence the skin effect. It's more complex than all that, but I'm no theoretician. And just knowing the basics doesn't mean at all that you'll be able to predict which cables will work best in your system before you try them, either.
One thing to remember regarding the silver versus copper conductivity debate. Silver oxide is conductive, copper oxide is not. Thus, as these conductors age, the disparity between them becomes greater. Silver is best(AC or DC), followed closely by copper, then a fair sized dropoff to gold.
This is to quantify the conductivity differences of silver and copper. Silver: 62.9, Copper: 60.7, Gold, 48.8. So, silver is actually 3.62% more conductive. Source is MIT's website.