statampere

The statampere is a unit of electric current in the centimeter-gram-second (CGS) system of physical units, specifically within the electromagnetic CGS (EM-CGS) system. It is defined as the amount of electric current that, when flowing through a wire, exerts a force of one dyne on a unit magnetic pole at a distance of one centimeter. This definition is derived from Ampere's force law, which describes the magnetic force between two current-carrying conductors.

The statampere is an absolute unit, meaning it is defined in terms of fundamental mechanical quantities like length, mass, and time, without recourse to arbitrary standards. It is one of the base units in the EM-CGS system. While historically significant, the statampere is rarely used in modern scientific and engineering contexts. The SI unit of electric current, the ampere, is overwhelmingly preferred due to its practical advantages and widespread adoption.

To provide some perspective on its magnitude, one statampere is equivalent to approximately 3.3356 x 10^-10 amperes. This extremely small value highlights the difference in scale between the CGS system's fundamental definitions and the practical current levels typically encountered. The statampere, along with other EM-CGS units like the statcoulomb and the statvolt, are part of a system that, while theoretically consistent, can be cumbersome for everyday applications.