The subject of this article is affected by the 2019 redefinition of the SI base units, which came into effect on 20 May 2019. As such, it may need to be revised to reflect those changes.
Ampere
Demonstration model of a moving iron ammeter. As the current through the coil increases, the plunger is drawn further into the coil and the pointer deflects to the right.
General information
Unit system
SI base unit
Unit of
Electric current
Symbol
A
Named after
André-Marie Ampère
The ampere (/ˈæmpɪər, æmˈpɪər/ or /ˈæmpɛər/ (UK)[1][2], symbol: A),[3] often shortened to "amp",[4] is the base unit of electric current in the International System of Units (SI).[5][6] It is named after André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), French mathematician and physicist, considered the father of electrodynamics.
The International System of Units defines the ampere in terms of other base units by measuring the electromagnetic force between electrical conductors carrying electric current. The earlier CGS measurement system had two different definitions of current, one essentially the same as the SI's and the other using electric charge as the base unit, with the unit of charge defined by measuring the force between two charged metal plates. The ampere was then defined as one coulomb of charge per second.[7] In SI, the unit of charge, the coulomb, is defined as the charge carried by one ampere during one second.
New definitions, in terms of invariant constants of nature, specifically the elementary charge, took effect on 20 May 2019.[8]
Contents
1Definition
2History
3Realization
4Everyday examples
4.1CPUs – 1 V DC
4.2Portable devices
4.3Internal combustion engine vehicles – 12 V DC
4.4North American domestic supply – 120 V AC
4.5European & Commonwealth domestic supply – 230–240 V AC
5See also
6Notes
7References
8External links
Definition
The ampere is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the elementary charge e to be 1.602 176 634 × 10−19 when expressed in the unit C, which is equal to A s, where the second is defined in terms of ∆ν.[9]
The SI unit of charge, the coulomb, "is the quantity of electricity carried in 1 second by a current of 1 ampere".[10] Conversely, a current of one ampere is one coulomb of charge going past a given point per second:
In general, charge Q is determined by steady current I flowing for a time t as Q = It.
Constant, instantaneous and average current are expressed in amperes (as in "the charging current is 1.2 A") and the charge accumulated, or passed through a circuit over a period of time is expressed in coulombs (as in "the battery charge is 30000 C"). The relation of the ampere (C/s) to the coulomb is the same as that of the watt (J/s) to the joule.
History
Main article: International System of Electrical and Magnetic Units
The ampere was originally defined as one tenth of the unit of electric current in the centimetre–gram–second system of units. That unit, now known as the abampere, was defined as the amount of current that generates a force of two dynes per centimetre of length between two wires one centimetre apart.[11] The size of the unit was chosen so that the units derived from it in the MKSA system would be conveniently sized.
The "international ampere" was an early realization of the ampere, defined as the current that would deposit 0.001118 grams of silver per second from a silver nitrate solution.[12] Later, more accurate measurements revealed that this current is 0.99985 A.
Since power is defined as the product of current and voltage, the ampere can alternatively be expressed in terms of the other units using the relationship I=P/V, and thus 1 ampere equals 1 W/V. Current can be measured by a multimeter, a device that can measure electrical voltage, current, and resistance.
Realization
The standard ampere is most accurately realized using a Kibble balance, but is in practice maintained via Ohm's law from the units of electromotive force and resistance, the volt and the ohm, since the latter two can be tied to physical phenomena that are relatively easy to reproduce, the Josephson junction and the quantum Hall effect, respectively.[13]
At present, techniques to establish the realization of an ampere have a relative uncertainty of approximately a few parts in 107, and involve realizations of the watt, the ohm and the volt.[13]
Everyday examples
Main article: Orders of magnitude (current)
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The current drawn by typical constant-voltage energy distribution systems is usually dictated by the power (watt) consumed by the system and the operating voltage. For this reason the examples given below are grouped by voltage level.
CPUs – 1 V DC
Current notebook CPUs (up to 15...45 W at 1 V): up to 15...45 A
Current high-end CPUs (up to 65...140 W at 1.15 V): up to 55...120 A
Portable devices
Hearing aid (typically 1 mW at 1.4 V): 700 µA
USB charging adapter (as power supply – typically 10 W at 5 V): 2 A
Internal combustion engine vehicles – 12 V DC
A typical motor vehicle has a 12 V battery. The various accessories that are powered by the battery might include:
Instrument panel light (typically 2 W): 166 mA
Headlight (each, typically 60 W): 5 A
Starter motor on a smaller car: 50 A to 200 A
North American domestic supply – 120 V AC
Most Canada, Mexico and United States domestic power suppliers run at 120 V.
Household circuit breakers typically provide a maximum of 15 A or 20 A of current to a given set of outlets.
USB charging adapter (as load – typically 10 W): 83 mA
22-inch/56-centimeter portable television (35 W): 290 mA
Tungsten light bulb (60–100 W): 500–830 mA
Toaster, kettle (1.5 kW): 12.5 A
Hair dryer (1.8 kW): 15 A
European & Commonwealth domestic supply – 230–240 V AC
Most European domestic power supplies run at 230 V, and most Commonwealth domestic power supplies run at 240 V. For the same amount of power (in watts), the current drawn by a particular European or Commonwealth appliance (in Europe or a Commonwealth country) will be less than for an equivalent North American appliance.[Note 1] Typical circuit breakers will provide 16 A.
The current drawn by a number of typical appliances are:
Compact fluorescent lamp (11–30 W): 56–112 mA
22-inch/56-centimeter portable television (35 W): 145–150 mA
Tungsten light bulb (60–100 W): 240–450 mA
Toaster, kettle (2 kW): 9 A
Immersion heater (4.6 kW): 19–20 A
See also
Ammeter
Ampacity (current-carrying capacity)
Electric current
Electric shock
Hydraulic analogy
Magnetic constant
Orders of magnitude (current)
Notes
^The formula for power is given by
so it follows that if the voltage is doubled and the power remains the same, the current will be halved.
References
^"Ampère". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
^OED entry has /ˈampɛː/
^"2. SI base units", SI brochure (8th ed.), BIPM, archived from the original on 7 October 2014, retrieved 19 November 2011
^SI supports only the use of symbols and deprecates the use of abbreviations for units."Bureau International des Poids et Mesures" (PDF). 2006. p. 130. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 June 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
^"2.1. Unit of electric current (ampere)", SI brochure (8th ed.), BIPM, archived from the original on 3 February 2012, retrieved 19 November 2011
^Base unit definitions: Ampere Archived 25 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine Physics.nist.gov. Retrieved on 28 September 2010.
^Bodanis, David (2005), Electric Universe, New York: Three Rivers Press, ISBN 978-0-307-33598-2
^Draft Resolution A "On the revision of the International System of units (SI)" to be submitted to the CGPM at its 26th meeting (2018)(PDF)
^"ampere (A)". www.npl.co.uk. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
^The International System of Units (SI)(PDF) (8th ed.), Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, 2006, p. 144, archived (PDF) from the original on 5 November 2013.
^Kowalski, L, A short history of the SI units in electricity, Montclair, archived from the original on 14 February 2002
^History of the ampere, Sizes, 1 April 2014, archived from the original on 20 October 2016, retrieved 29 January 2017
^ ab"Appendix 2: Practical realization of unit definitions: Electrical quantities", SI brochure, BIPM, archived from the original on 14 April 2013.
External links
The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty
NIST Definition of ampere and μ0
v
t
e
SI units
Base units
ampere
candela
kelvin
kilogram
metre
mole
second
Derived units with special names
becquerel
coulomb
degree Celsius
farad
gray
henry
hertz
joule
katal
lumen
lux
newton
ohm
pascal
radian
siemens
sievert
steradian
tesla
volt
watt
weber
Other accepted units
astronomical unit
dalton
day
decibel
degree of arc
electronvolt
hectare
hour
litre
minute
minute and second of arc
neper
tonne
See also
Conversion of units
Metric prefixes
2005–2019 definition
2019 redefinition
Systems of measurement
Book
Category
English Journal
Visceral and somatic disorders: tissue softening with frequency-specific microcurrent.
McMakin CR, Oschman JL.SourceFibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Clinic of Portland, Portland, OR 97214, USA. cmcmakin@msn.com
Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.).J Altern Complement Med.2013 Feb;19(2):170-7. doi: 10.1089/acm.2012.0384. Epub 2012 Jul 9.
Frequency-specific microcurrent (FSM) is an emerging technique for treating many health conditions. Pairs of frequencies of microampere-level electrical stimulation are applied to particular places on the skin of a patient via combinations of conductive graphite gloves, moistened towels, or gel elec
A regenerative microchannel neural interface for recording from and stimulating peripheral axons in vivo.
FitzGerald JJ, Lago N, Benmerah S, Serra J, Watling CP, Cameron RE, Tarte E, Lacour SP, McMahon SB, Fawcett JW.SourceCentre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. jjf30@cam.ac.uk
Journal of neural engineering.J Neural Eng.2012 Feb;9(1):016010. doi: 10.1088/1741-2560/9/1/016010. Epub 2012 Jan 19.
Neural interfaces are implanted devices that couple the nervous system to electronic circuitry. They are intended for long term use to control assistive technologies such as muscle stimulators or prosthetics that compensate for loss of function due to injury. Here we present a novel design of interf
DNA base-specific modulation of microampere transverse edge currents through a metallic graphene nanoribbon with a nanopore.
Saha KK, Drndić M, Nikolić BK.SourceDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716-2570, USA.
Nano letters.Nano Lett.2012 Jan 11;12(1):50-5. doi: 10.1021/nl202870y. Epub 2011 Dec 15.
We study two-terminal devices for DNA sequencing that consist of a metallic graphene nanoribbon with zigzag edges (ZGNR) and a nanopore in its interior through which the DNA molecule is translocated. Using the nonequilibrium Green functions combined with density functional theory, we demonstrate tha
Microampere definition, a unit of electric current, equal to one millionth of an ampere. Symbol: μA. See more. Dictionary.com Word of the Day Translate Games Blog Thesaurus.com Apps Favorites Log Out Log In follow Dictionary ...
microampere m (invariable) microampere Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=microampere&oldid=34498225" Categories: English words prefixed with micro-English lemmas English nouns English countable ...
