Calculate the skin depth of a conductor at various frequencies.
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Calculation Results
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Quick Reference
δSkin Depth
ρResistivity
fFrequency
μPermeability (μ0 * μr)
Overview
Skin depth is a measure of how far an alternating current (AC) penetrates into a conductor. At high frequencies, most of the current flows near the outer 'skin' of the material.
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Pro Tips
Skin depth decreases as frequency increases.
Good conductors like copper and silver have very small skin depths at MHz frequencies.
Resistivity (ρ) for copper is about 1.68 x 10^-8 Ω·m.
μ0 (vacuum permeability) ≈ 1.2566 x 10^-6 H/m.
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Fun Facts
"Skin effect is why high-frequency cables are sometimes hollow or use many thin strands (Litz wire)."
"Induction cooktops use the skin effect to heat the bottom of metal pans."
"In microwave engineering, conductors are often silver-plated to reduce resistance, as the current only travels through that thin silver layer."
