BELIEVE ME NOT! - - A SKEPTIC's GUIDE
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Electric currents (the rate at which charges pass
a fixed point in a wire, for instance) have dimensions of
charge per unit time.
If the COULOMB is our chosen unit for electric charge
and we retain our fondness for seconds as a time unit,
then current must be measured in coulombs per second.
We call these units AMPERES or Amps [abbreviated A] after
a Frenchman named Ampère. Thus
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(17.18) |
I have a problem with Amps.
It makes about as much sense to give the coulomb per second
its own name as it would to make up a name for meters per second.
No one frets over the complexity of expressing speed in m/s
or kph or whatever - in fact it serves as a good reminder
that velocity is a rate of change of distance with time -
but for some reason we feel obliged to give C/s their own name.
Ah well, it is probably because all this electrical stuff is
so weird.17.12
Whatever the reason, we are stuck with them now!
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Jess H. Brewer -
Last modified: Mon Nov 16 17:16:21 PST 2015