Engineering & mechanics
Conductor skin depth
Estimate field decay depth in a uniform good conductor.
A clear answer. Here’s how.
Uses δ=√(2/[ω μ₀ μr σ]) for a homogeneous good conductor, with μ₀ approximated as 4π×10⁻⁷ H/m. Field amplitude decays as exp(−depth/δ), so the 1% depth is ln(100)δ. Assumes frequency-independent real conductivity/permeability and neglects displacement current, surface roughness and magnetic dispersion.
See a worked example
Worked example
A fixed demonstration, separate from the values you enter above.
- Frequency (Hz)
- 1000000
- Conductivity (S/m)
- 58000000
- Relative magnetic permeability
- 1
Example result
- Skin depth (metres)
- 0.0000660854931008
- Skin depth (millimetres)
- 0.0660854931008
- Depth at 1% field amplitude (mm)
- 0.304334942554