About Wire Size Gauge Numbers

In general a wire size gauge number corresponds to the number of operations involved in drawing a wire, a larger figure representing more operations resulting in a smaller diameter. The AWG wire gauge is a logarithmic scale base on the cross sectional area of the wire. Each 3-gauge step in size corresponds to a doubling or halving of the cross sectional area. For example, going from 20 gauge to 17 gauge doubles the cross sectional area; this halves the DC resistance.

Solid wire diameters increases/decreases by a factor of  2 every  6 gauges,
   "      "         "              "               "                            3 every 10 gauges,
   "      "         "              "               "                            4 every 12 gauges,
   "      "         "              "               "                            5 every 14 gauges,
   "      "         "              "               "                          10 every 20 gauges,
   "      "         "              "               "                        100 every 40 gauges.

[See http://documents.epanorama.net/documents/wiring/wire_resistance.html.]

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