2. Why do electric cables hang tightly in winter while they appear loose in
summer?
Answers
Answer:
In the summer electric wires are kept loose while in the winter they are kept tight. ... In the winter temperatures are naturally lower than in the summer. Electric wires/cables expand as temperature rises.
Having done a lineman course at the start of my apprenticeship, rest assured that the wires are set up to cope with the temperature range they will go through; on hot days, the wire will expand, just as railway lines do (that’s what the gaps were for, and why there are small gaps in metal bridges, covered with a plate). On cold days the wire will contract, but in doing so that increases the tension, and when an accumulation of ice occurs, that can snap wires by overloading them.
In some cases, copper wires had steel wires in the centre to increase the strength, and reduce the chance of breaking. They still lengthen in the heat, and contract in the cold.