ABSTRACT
Electricity is conveyed in metal conductors, which have to be insulated and which also have to be protected against mechanical damage. The conductors used in domestic and commercial installations are so small that the proper name to give them is wire. When the wire is insulated to make a usable piece of equipment for carrying electricity it becomes a cable. This nomenclature makes a convenient and logical distinction between a bare and an insulated wire, but in practice the terms wire and cable are in fact used interchangeably and it is only the context which makes clear exactly what is being referred to. We shall try to avoid confusion and shall discuss conductors first and the insulation applied to them afterwards.
