What’s on the Skin Effect poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
At high frequency current crowds into a thin surface layer, raising a conductor's effective resistance.
- Depth falls as the square root of frequency
- Better conductivity gives a thinner skin
- Extra thickness beneath the skin does nothing
- Litz wire splits current between fine strands
- Surface plating matters, because current rides on top
- AC resistance can far exceed the DC value
- Copper at 50 Hz — 9.4 mm
- Copper at 1 MHz — 66 μm
- Copper at 1 GHz — 2.1 μm
- Above roughly 1 MHz a solid 2 mm wire behaves like a thin tube with an unused centre.
Skin depth δ = √(2/(ωμσ)), where σ is conductivity. A poorer conductor therefore has a deeper skin, not a shallower one.
Questions about the Skin Effect poster
- What’s on the Skin Effect poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. At high frequency current crowds into a thin surface layer, raising a conductor's effective resistance. Depth falls as the square root of frequency; Better conductivity gives a thinner skin; Extra thickness beneath the skin does nothing; Litz wire splits current between fine strands; Surface plating matters, because current rides on top; AC resistance can far exceed the DC value; Copper at 50 Hz — 9.4 mm; Copper at 1 MHz — 66 μm; Copper at 1 GHz — 2.1 μm; Above roughly 1 MHz a solid 2 mm wire behaves like a thin tube with an unused centre.. Skin depth δ = √(2/(ωμσ)), where σ is conductivity. A poorer conductor therefore has a deeper skin, not a shallower one.
- Who is the Skin Effect poster for?
- Skin Effect belongs to the Electrical Engineering section rather than to a school year, because engineering is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning electromagnetics can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Skin Effect poster?
- Use it to judge whether a conductor's cross-section is doing any work at your frequency. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Skin Effect belongs on the wall where that engineering work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Skin Effect?
- Antenna Fundamentals, Antenna Types and Boundary Conditions sit alongside Skin Effect in the Electrical Engineering section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Antenna FundamentalsAntenna TypesBoundary Conditions
- Is the Skin Effect poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Skin Effect downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Electrical Engineering section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Skin Effect poster print at?
- Skin Effect is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Skin Effect loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Skin Effect on the same wall.
Browse every Electrical Engineering poster, or start from the full catalogue.