Skin Effect
The electric current flows mainly at the "skin"
of the conductor, between the outer
surface and a level called the skin depth. The skin
effect causes the effective resistance of the conductor to increase at higher
frequencies where the skin depth is smaller, thus reducing the effective
cross-section of the conductor.
The phenomenon whereby field intensity in a conductor
rapidly decreases is known as skin effect.
Skin depth is
defined as that depth in which the wave has been attenuated to 1/e or
approximately 37% of its original value. i.e.
for any material
medium.
practical
significance of skin depth:
Skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric
current (AC) to become distributed within a conductor such that the current density
is largest near the surface of the conductor, and decreases with greater depths
in the conductor. At 60 Hz in copper, the skin depth is about 8.5 mm.
The skin depth is a measure of the depth to which an EM
wave can penetrate the
medium.
skin depth δ For good conductors is given by
Skin depth in Copper at different frequencies :