In article . com, "Bob" wrote:

Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com, "Father
Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?

More surface contact? Electrons tend to flow on the surface of a wire
more so than in the center for some reason or another.

Not at only 60 Hz in residential wiring, they don't. The skin depth at 60Hz is
somewhere around 7 mm, IIRC, so a wire has to be more than a half inch in
diameter before there's any skin effect at all at 60Hz.

I always thought the reason for not soldering was after-the-fact heat.
Depending on the lead/tin ratio of the solder, it can have different
melting points.

Well, yes, but the melting point of tin/lead solder is at *minimum* 361
degrees F
http://store.whittemoredurgin.com/7800solderq.html

If a soldered wire heats due to a heavy load, it may
be hot enough to break the solder joint if the solder used had a low
melting point. Just what I was taught.

If your wires get within a hundred degrees of melting the solder, you have far
bigger problems than the solder...

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.