Question

For household electrical wiring, one uses Cu wires or Al wires. What considerations are kept in mind?

Answer 1

Hint: In case of household wiring we must keep some factors in mind which plays an important role in selecting the type of metal. We must think about the cost efficiency which plays a vital role here and also the safety and the effective use of the metal used for wiring.

Complete answer:
The factors which come into play while choosing a particular metal are:
A. Price of the wire: There are some conducting materials or wire that are very good for use but are very much costly like silver. As in household wiring there is a need for a large amount of conducting wire, so we must keep in mind the total cost that would be efficient while wiring the house.
B. Conductivity: Conductivity plays an important role in the choosing of material for household wiring. The materials which are more conductive, hence have less resistance and eventually consumes less power.

These are the key two factors which play a vital role while choosing a material for wire.In the given question we are provided to choose either Cu or Al wire.Keeping in mind the first factor, aluminium is cheaper than Copper but not as much as compared to silver.But, coming to the second factor, the conductivity of copper is far better than aluminium. Hence, it will also consume less power and eventually for long term is more economical than aluminium in overall performance.

Hence, we must choose Cu rather than Al wires while electrical wiring of the household.

Note: It must be noted that copper is not only more conductive and economical.Copper is also ductile, hence it can be easily bent without being torn to use for various other purposes. Even copper is used rather than aluminium or silver in the circuits of the motor of fan for making coil, also in television and many more.