Editing Electrical length (section)

=== Significance ===
The electrical length of a conductor determines when wave effects (phase shift along the conductor) are important.<ref name="Schmitt" />{{rp|p.12–14}}   If the electrical length <math>G</math> is much less than one, that is the physical length of a conductor is much shorter than the wavelength, say less than one tenth of the wavelength (<math>l < \lambda/10</math>) it is called ''electrically short''.  In this case the voltage and current are approximately constant along the conductor, so it acts as a simple connector which transfers alternating current with negligible phase shift.  In [[circuit theory]] the connecting wires between components are usually assumed to be electrically short, so the [[lumped element]] [[circuit theory|circuit model]] is only valid for alternating current when the circuit is ''electrically small'', much smaller than a wavelength.<ref name="Schmitt" />{{rp|p.12–14}}<ref name="Paul" />  When the electrical length approaches or is greater than one, a conductor will have significant [[electrical reactance|reactance]], [[inductance]] or [[capacitance]], depending on its length.  So simple circuit theory is inadequate and [[transmission line]] techniques (the [[distributed-element model]]) must be used.