What are the electrical differences between smaller and larger coaxial cables?

How do different sized coaxial cables, such as RG-58 and RG-8, compare in terms of electrical properties such as loss? Do different cable types have different losses at different frequencies?

From test pool question: T9B10

• @dan-kd2ee I've changed this question to make it different from existing ones Nov 20 '13 at 18:08
• Sure. I've seen answers that I think answer parts of this question, but it doesn't appear to be an exact duplicate of anything. Nov 20 '13 at 18:36

Loss per unit distance is the big one. Generally speaking, the larger the cable, the lower the loss - but it also depends on frequency. Higher frequencies typically result in higher loss. This is usually given in decibles per hundred feet, and a value of $3dB/100ft$ means that if you use 100 ft of that coax at that frequency, you'll lose half of your power. If you need to get the loss of a particular cable, or compare two cables, you should get a chart or table from the manufacturer. This table lists some common types of coax at a variety of frequencies.