Final answer:
The primary considerations when selecting electric cable size are current-carrying capacity, resistance, and voltage drop.
Step-by-step explanation:
The primary considerations when selecting electric cable size are:
- Current-carrying capacity: The diameter of the wire determines the current-carrying capacity. The larger the diameter, the greater the current the wire can carry.
- Resistance: Wire size is also selected based on the desired resistance to minimize the Joule losses due to resistive heating.
- Voltage drop: The size of the wire is chosen to ensure that the voltage drop is within acceptable limits over the length of the cable.