ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

American wire gauge

American Wire Gauge (AWG) is a system used to measure the thickness of wires. It's like measuring how big your crayons are – some crayons are thicker than others, right? The AWG numbers start from 0000 and go all the way up to 40, and the bigger the number, the thinner the wire.

So, let's say we have two wires, one with AWG 2 and one with AWG 10. The AWG 2 wire is thicker, like a big fat crayon, and the AWG 10 wire is thinner like a regular crayon. The thicker wire can carry more electricity than the thinner one.

Now, why is this important? Well, different electronic devices use different amounts of electricity. If the wire that connects the device to the power source is too thin, it can get hot and even start a fire! So, we use AWG to make sure we use the right thickness of wire for each electronic device.

So, that's the basics of American Wire Gauge – it's a system for measuring the thickness of wires so we can use the right wire for the right electronic device and avoid accidents.