Difference Between Cable and Optical Fiber
Sep 04, 2022
A cable is generally considered to be a wire that is made of one or more mutually insulated conductors covered with insulation and protective layers, and transmits electricity or information from one place to another. In a broad sense, it refers to a device that uses metal as a medium to transmit electrical signals.
By definition, cables are used to conduct electricity. Generally manufactured from the following metals:
Copper is second only to silver in electrical conductivity and second only to gold and silver in thermal conductivity; corrosion resistance, non-magnetic, good plasticity, easy to weld, and widely used. Copper alloys are mainly used to improve the wear resistance, corrosion resistance and mechanical and physical properties of copper.
Silver, the metal has the highest electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity, has good corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance, and is easy to weld; mainly used for plating and cladding;
Gold, nickel, used for high temperature resistance wire.
Iron (steel) is often used as a reinforcing material for composite conductors, such as steel core aluminum wire, copper clad steel, aluminum clad steel wire, etc.
Zinc, used as a coating for wire/steel strip/iron conductors to prevent corrosion.
Tin, used as a coating for steel wire/copper wire to prevent corrosion and facilitate copper wire welding.
Optical fiber is the abbreviation of optical fiber, which is a light transmission tool that utilizes the principle of total reflection of light in fibers made of glass or plastic. Kao Kun, the former president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and George A. Hockham first proposed the idea that optical fibers can be used for communication transmission, for which Kao won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The transmitter at one end of the fiber uses a light emitting diode (LED) or a laser to transmit light pulses to the fiber, and the receiver at the other end of the fiber detects the pulses using a photosensitive element.
In daily life, optical fibers are used for long-distance information transmission because the conduction loss of light in optical fibers is much lower than that of electricity in wires.
