Exercise 8

Reactive Properties Of
Copper Cable

1
 Objectives for Exercise 8
At the end of this Exercise, you will be able to:

■ Explain the difference between resistive and

reactive cable properties.
■ State the two types of reactive cable properties.
■ Describe the physical and electrical
characteristics of capacitors.

2
 Objectives (Continued)
■ Explain the effects of cable capacitance on
pulse waveforms.
■ Describe how the reduction of capacitance
and resistance improve pulse waveforms.
■ Define “induction” as it applies to data
communications.
■ List the two ways to reduce the effects of
induction.
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 Electrical Properties Of
Copper Cabling
■ As you learned in the previous exercise,
cable performance relies on the electrical
properties of the cable.

■ Specifically you learned that resistance

attenuates signal strength.

4
 Types Of Electrical Properties

■ In electrical terms, there are two types of

component properties:

– Resistive properties, which offer a constant

opposition to current flow, and

– Reactive properties, which offer varying

opposition to current flow in response to changes
in voltage.
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 Reactive Properties Of
Copper Cable
■ Capacitance
– A property that oppose changes in voltage.
■ Impedance
– The total opposition to current flow in a circuit
containing resistance and reactance.
■ Induction
– The way current in one conductor affects other
nearby conductors.

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 Capacitance
■ Capacitance stores electrical energy by
means of an electrostatic field.

■ The electrical component that performs this

function is called a capacitor.

■ Capacitors oppose any change in voltage.

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 Capacitors

■ Although a copper cable does not contain

physical capacitors, a certain amount of
capacitance exists between two conductors in
close proximity. This reacts the same as a
small physical capacitor.

■ For that reason, let’s start by first examining

how a capacitor works.

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 Physical Capacitors
■ The principal parts of a capacitor are two metal plates,
separated by a non-conductive material called a dielectric. In
a cable, these plates would be the two conductors.

Lead

Dielectric Plates

Lead
9
Capacitance of Wire Pairs
and Coaxial Cable

Air Dielectric

Shield
Teflon Dielectric

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 Symbology

■ The schematic symbol for a capacitor is

shown below.

=
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What Determines the Amount of
Capacitance?
■ Capacitance is:
– Directly proportional to the area of the plates
– Inversely proportional to the distance between
the plates
– Effected by the material of the dielectric
■ The unit of measure for capacitance is the
farad.
– This is a very large unit. Most capacitors are in
the microfarad or picofarad range.
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 Capacitance Charging
When the switch is moved to the battery position, the
capacitor would immediately charge to the value of the
battery voltage were it not for the circuit resistance.
Charging Current
Resistance

+
+
__
__
Resistance
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 Charging Rate
■ Because of the circuit resistance, the capacitor will charge at
an exponential rate, as shown in this chart. Notice it takes 5
time constants to fully charge - but what is a “time constant?”

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 Time Constants

■ One time constant is equal to the circuit’s

resistance multiplied by its capacitance.
– In the first time constant, the capacitor will
charge to 63% of the applied voltage.
– In each additional time constant, it will charge
to 63% of the remaining voltage difference.
■ After 5 time constants, it is effectively
charged to the total applied voltage.

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 Capacitance Discharging
■ When voltage is removed, the
capacitor will discharge at the same
exponential rate that it charged.
Discharge Current
Resistance

+
-
Resistance

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 Effect of Capacitance on
Waveform
■ Since capacitance opposes sudden changes in
voltage because of charge time, the leading and
trailing edges lose their sharpness and become
rounded.
V
O
L
T
A Ideal Effects Of
G Waveform Capacitance
E

TIME
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 Effect of Capacitance vs
Pulse Width
■ As data rates increase, individual pulse widths
decrease.
– As you can see, this greatly degrades the pulses.

V
O
L
T
A
G
E

TIME
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 Effect of RC Values on
Charge Rates
■ As cable capacitance and/or resistance is
reduced, thus reducing the time constant,
response to sudden voltage changes improves.

Long TC Medium TC Short TC 19

 Cable Impedance

■ We touched on cable impedance earlier in

Exercise 2.
■ There we said that impedance:
– Opposed changes in current or voltage.
– Is the vector sum of resistance and reactance.
■ Let’s now expand upon that a little.

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 Determining Impedance

■ In a resistive circuit, current and voltage are

in-phase. That is, as voltage rises, current
rises at the same time.
■ In a capacitive circuit, current changes lead
voltage changes by 90 degrees.
■ Impedance is the total opposition to current
flow in a reactive circuit.

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 Plotting Impedance
■ DC resistance (R) is plotted at 0 degrees.
■ AC resistance (XC) is plotted at 270 degrees.

■ Impedance (Z) is the vector sum of R and Xc

90
R&I
180 0
XC Z2 = R2 +XC2
Z
270
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 Capacitive Reactance (XC)

■ We will not attempt to compute capacitive

reactance since it is not something you will
be required to do in cable installation or
maintenance. However, as you can see by
the equation, it is dependent on frequency.

XC = 1/2 x (pi) x F x C
Where Pi = 3.14, F = frequency in Hz, and C = capacitance in farads

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 What Is Induction?

■ As current flows through a conductor, an

electromagnet field builds up around it.
■ If the current flow changes, the lines of force
move, either expanding or contracting.
■ Whenever moving lines of force cut through
another conductor, current is induced to flow
in that conductor.

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 Concerns About Induction
in Copper Cabling
■ Noise
– Stray radiation can be induced into data cables
from electric motors and other equipment,
resulting in random signals that mask pulses.
■ Cross-Talk
– Data pulses can be induced into nearby cables.
■ Security
– Sensitive data can be radiated from data cables
and captured by unauthorized persons.
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 Limiting the Effects of
Induced Radiation
■ Shielding
– Grounded shields keep data in and stray
radiation out.
■ Cancellation
– In paired wiring, both wires carry the same
signal but of opposite phase. Magnet fields of
opposite phase tend to cancel each other.

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 Grounded Shielding

■ In coaxial cables with a grounded shield,

both externally and internally generated
electromagnet fields are shunted to ground.

Shield

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 Field Cancellation

■ Since this signal is on both wires, but 180 degrees out of

phase, the generated fields tend to cancel each other.
– This effect is enhanced by twisting the wire pair.

Source Load

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Now It’s Your Turn

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