Question

High voltage power is often carried in wire bundles made up of individual strands. In your initial post to the discussion, discuss the forces on the strands of wire due to the current flowing through them. What would happen if the force acted opposite of the known behavior? Provide a detailed description.

Answer 1

Answer:

There will  be a huge problem of holding the wire strands together, and the power losses will also be amplified.

Explanation:

The force per unit length on two current carrying conductors, lying parallel to each other is proportional to the product of the current through the conductors, and inversely proportional to their distance apart. This force is attractive if the current flows through these conductors in the same direction, and is repulsive if it flows in the opposite direction.

For the strand of wire that make up a high voltage wire bundle, there will be a force of attraction pulling the wires closer to each other, and they will experience the maximum pulling force possible, since they lie next to each other. This force helps to hold these wires in a high tension wire strand together, limiting the area, and reducing "skin effect."

In the case that this wires in the wire strand acts in opposite of the known behavior, the wires will repel and push each other apart. This pushing apart will increase power loss due "skin effect" which is increased by an increase in exposed surface area of the wire strands. This will pose a big problem for high tension transmission.