Hobbies And Interests
Electronics
Anyone who has ever built a radio as a science project knows all about enamel-coated copper wire, because winding the wire hundreds of times around a cardboard tube to build a coil is probably the most time-consuming part of the project. However, ordinary rubber-coated wire won't do -- it's too thick and too heavy. Electromagnets, with a heart of iron instead of paper, employ the same enamel-coated wire for the same reason. Electromagnets are found in nearly every kind of electrical device, including high-temperature motors and generators, where resistance to heat is a must. Where space is precious, such as inside electric motors, square rather than round enamel-coated wire is used. It winds even tighter because, geometrically speaking, the flat sides of squares snuggle up together while the cylinders of round wire create gaps wherever their curves don't quite touch.
Computers
When you're dealing with parts that fit comfortably on a postage stamp and yet are packed tighter than sardines, space counts, including the space that the wires connecting the parts take up. Enamel-coated copper wire is thinner than other wires for a given gauge, the measure of a wire conductor's thickness. Another plus is that the enameling makes a fine flux when it is melted, deliberately, to solder the wire to components; no need to strip the wire first.
Audio
The heavy headphones of the early days of radio and phonographs looked like and were called "cans." Now headphones (like the radio and the phonograph) have evolved into much smaller devices, some small enough to fit easily into your ear. Lightweight equipment needs lightweight wiring, and enamel-coated copper wire fills the bill. If you want the same-sized conduit carrying the same signal (since the laws of physics haven't changed), the package is smaller, ideal for jogging and other mobile activities.
Jewelry
Copper wire has long been used to make jewelry, because it's so easy to shape. It does have two drawbacks, though: Copper turns green, from oxidizing, such as when copper reacts with the moisture and oils on your skin. The copper then turns your skin green, too. Enamel coating on the copper solves both problems, and confers an added benefit: the enamel can be made in any color, so the jewelry designer is not limited to a Lincoln-penny palette.