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Skin Effect

Last updated Oct 30, 2023

# Description

AC Current tends to travel on the outer surface of a conductor. This effect increases with the AC frequency (the skin depth decreases as frequency increases.)

This results in an effective increased resistance for AC current in a conductor versus DC current in the same conductor.

# Applications

Due to the skin effect, some RF designs such as antennas and power conductors use hollow metal rods rather than solid conductors.

# References