Custom essays on Copper wire

Disadvantages of Copper wires
Fiber optic is currently the main competitor of copper wiring, and taking into account the speed of fiber optical communications development, the future of cable wiring is doubtful. There are several key disadvantages of copper cables (some of which were mentioned in the previous chapter indirectly), and due to these disadvantages, fiber optic communications are taking over very quickly (Mueller & Ogletree 2004). Currently, use of copper cables is decreasing: for example, many companies working in semiconductor industry end using copper because of its spotty track record; also, companies in automotive industry reject using copper since it does not provide the necessary resistance to corrosion and does not provide sufficient reliability (Trulove 2005). Here are the major disadvantages of copper:
 Copper and its operating expenses altogether have higher cost than fiber optic systems: since copper is strongly related with Latin America and its foreign trade, it represents a highly volatile market compared to fiber optics; in addition to that, copper storage is expensive, and shipping costs are higher, since copper is heavier.
 Copper oxidation (and thus sensitivity to corrosion) is another disadvantage; this property leads to a shorter life cycle of copper compared to fiber optics.
 Third disadvantage of copper is its sensitivity to electrical interference compared to fiber optics; thus, clearness of signals for copper cables is much lower, and copper wire can be considered much more dangerous than fiber optic.
 Copper is unreliable in the bonding process; thus, semiconductor companies start refusing to use copper – it is considered to be inefficient and unreliable in this industry, and many projects based on copper wires are currently being reconsidered.
Summary
For a long time, copper wires have been used as a communications medium and were considered to be flexible, reliable and economically reasonable. The history of wire started from analog telephone, and has reached its peak in current telecommunications and digital networks; copper cabling was chosen (and is currently used) for many infrastructures in commercial environments, end-user projects and for home applications. Despite the rapid development of fiber optics and related technologies (which do have several significant advantages) as well as quick growth of technical requirements to telecommunications systems and their speed, copper cabling still remains one of the basic environments and new types of copper cable which might fulfill higher requirements are being developed.
Though there are many competitors to cooper wire such as fiber optics etc., copper cables continue to be used in telecommunication due to their price (total price of cable and equipment is often lower than fiber optic), existing infrastructure and moderate requirements to staff education; passive interconnects are also an advantage of copper wires. At the same time, fiber optic has some disadvantage such as susceptibility to corrosion, high shock hazard and other features that make it in many cases less useful than fiber optics. However, the introduction of gigabit Ethernet standard and existing infrastructures in telecommunications are an indicator if future use of copper wire for a significant amount of time.
Conclusion
Despite the changes of requirements for quality, distance and reliability of networks, copper cables and wires are widely used in the US and worldwide; in the US, electrical industry needs consume 60% of all copper production, and 80% of copper cables and wires (Noll 1997). A large extent of all copper is transformed into copper wire and cable products despite of fiber optics spreading (Smith & Wright & Ostroff 1998). Consumption of copper wire is still increasing because the microelectronics industry produces more and more devices which require network access; examples of such devices are telephones with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capabilities, devices for maintaining security such as cameras, devices for restricting and controlling access, different equipment used for sensing and signaling purposes – all these technologies require networking, and are mainly based on copper cabling.
Future development of copper cable usage is related to category 7 and 8 cables, Category 7 cable and connectors are available from manufacturers and an international cabling standard is under development. Proposals have also been made for Category 8, the next possible cabling category (Trulove 2005). This category will be used for transmitting data and providing multimedia capabilities for distances up to 164 feet, and provide better performance than Category 7; moreover, Category 8 is intended to provide bandwidth up to 1200 MHz for multimedia means (e.g. cable TV) (Trulove 2005).
Recommendation
Telecommunications industry is one of the most rapidly changing ones, standards and requirements in this sphere are rapidly changing, and thus, it is difficult to forecast future development in this area. Various alternatives to copper cable and wire were offered; in the beginning of 1990s, hybrid of fiber and coaxial cable was created to replace existing cables (Gokhale 2004); currently, fiber optic is being widely introduced.
However, there are many applications of copper wire in telecommunications, and this field is still developing. There is a great interest in the USA, and particularly in other countries around the world, in asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL). This is a technology that uses the latest possibilities in electronics to check the quality of a signal passing down a copper line continuously and make the necessary adjustments to keep it clean and reliable.
Though development in copper wire and cable production still takes place, the general tendency towards decreasing the role of copper in telecommunications and networking is witnessed, since “fiber continues to move closer to the customer, one step at a time” (Noll 1997).
Computer industry is one of the key driver for using copper cabling. Local area networks became widely used during the last decade; for implementing LANs, unshielded twisted copper pair was used (Noll 1997). For a long time the capacity of copper wiring satisfied users needs for data transmission and different categories of copper cable were developed; e.g. category 5 wiring has a capacity of 100 megabits per second over short distances, “due to the special care taken in manufacture, such as the accuracy of the twist” (Gokhale 2004). Gigabit Ethernet standard is penetrating the market now; however, coaxial cable has lost market share to twisted pair copper in this market, and fiber optic cable, which has far more capacity than copper, is taking its place.
References
Blake-Coleman, B.C. (1992). Copper Wire and Electrical Conductors: The Shaping of a Technology. Routledge.
Brooks, John (1976). Telephone, the First Hundred Years. New York: Harper & Row.
Gallo, Michael A. & Hancock, Bill. (2002). Networking explained. Digital Press.
Gokhale, Anu A. (2004). Introduction into Telecommunications. Cengage Learning.
Mueller, Scott & Ogletree, Terry W. (2004). Upgrading and repairing networks. Que Publishing.
Noll, Michael A. (1997). Highway of dreams: a critical view along the information superhighway. Routledge.
Smith, Leslie F. & Wright, John W. & Ostroff, David H. (1998). Perspectives on radio and television: telecommunication in the United States. Routledge.
Stanczak, Marianne. (2005). A Brief History of Copper.