Wire Inductance – Understanding Parasitic Inductance in Conductors

conductorsinductancemagnetic fluxskin-effectwire

when we say that in a wire there is a parasitic inductance, what is its cause? Is it the skin effect of the wire, the magnetic flux (generated by the current) through the surface of the total circuit in which the wire is inserted, or others?

I was told it is the skin effect of the conductor, but I was thinking that the dependence of the impedance is not linear so it should be wrong to consider this phenomenon as an inductance.

Best Answer

Generally, an inductance (parasitic or otherwise) indicates energy being stored in (and recovered from) the magnetic field.

Any current through a wire produces a magnetic field around the wire. But that magnetic field stores energy. Therefore you can't produce the current instantaneously (unless you can deliver infinite power). And if you want to shut the current off, you need to absorb that energy somewhere else.

With a bit more math to put numbers to things (how much current produces how much magnetic field, storing how much energy) you have your inductance.