Units in Electricity and Magnetism

The tables below list the systems of electrical and magnetic units.
They only include units of interest in the field of Radio.
The older systems were the CGS(centimeter-gram-second) and Gaussian systems.
The Gaussian system being based on a mix of Electrostatic units (ESU) and Electromagnetic
units (EMU).
The current standard is the International System of Units (SI) and is sometimes referred to as
rationalised MKS units.
The MKS system of units is a physical system of units that expresses any given measurement using
fundamental units of the metre, kilogramme, and/or second (MKS)

Conversions from one system to others are given in two ways.

Firstly numerically by multiplying factors.
Note that c stands for the velocity of light in space and its value is exactly 299792458
metre/second exactly (by definition of the metre).
The other method of conversion allows you to change formulas given in old books into the
modern SI form. This will be particularly useful to you if, like me, you have books by Terman,
Scroggie, etc. or the Admiralty Handbook of Wireless Telegraphy. There were lots of useful
formulas in these old books, which can now be given new life.
I have tried to make the tables as complete and accurate as possible and have checked lots of
different sources. Nevertheless there may be errors and I will be grateful for any corrections or
additions. Please email me at the address given on the home page.

SI Units
Quantity

Symbol

Unit & (Abbr.)

Dimensions

ESU

EMU

Mass

kilogram (kg)

1000

1000

Length

metre (m)

100

100

Time

second (s)

Power

watt (W)

ML2T-3

107

107

Electric Current

ampere (A)

I=ML1T-2

10c

0.1

Charge

coulomb (C)

TI

10c

0.1

Electric Potential

volt (V)

ML2T-3I-1

106/c

108

Resistance

ohm (

ML2T-3I-2

105/c2

109

Conductance

siemens (S)

M-1L-2T3I2

10-5c2

10-9

Inductance

henry (H)

ML2T-2I-2

105/c2

109

Capacitance

farad (F)

M-1L-2T4I2

10-5c2

10-9

Electric Field Strength

volt/metre (V m-1)

MLT-3I-1

104/c

106

coulomb/cu.m. (C m-3)

L-3TI

c/105

10-7

coulomb/sq.m. (C m-2)

L-2TI

4 10-3c

4 10-5

ampere (A)

4 10c

4 10-1

ampere/metre (A m-1)

L-1I

4 c/10

4 10-3

weber (Wb)

ML2T-2I-1

106/c

108

tesla (T)

MT-2I-1

100/c

104

none

none

10-4c-2/(4
)

1/(4 )

Electric Charge Density

Electric displacement
Electric flux density

Magnetic Potential
Magnetic Field Strength

Magnetic flux
Magnetic Induction
Magnetic Flux Density

Magnetic susceptibility

Magnetic Moment

ampere metre2 (A m2)

L2I

105c

103

Magnetisation (Magnetic
moment/unit volume)

ampere/metre (A m-1)

L-1I

10-1c

10-3

Magnetic Polarisation

tesla (T)

MT-2I-1

102/(4
c)

104/(4 )

Magnetic Pole Strength

ampere metre (A m)

LI

103c

10

Magneto Motive Force

Fm

ampere (A)

4 10c

4 10-1

Magnetic Reluctance

ampere/weber(A Wb-1)

I2M-1L-2T2

4 10-9

4 10-9

Permittivity of space

farad/metre (F m-1)

M-1L-3T4I2

Permeability of space

henry/metre (H m-1)

MLT-2I-2

Notes:
c (the speed of light) = 299792458 metre/second exactly (by definition of the metre)
= 1/(4 10-7c2) = 8.85418781762039 x 10-12 farad/metre (approx)
= 4 10-7 = 1.25663706143592 x 10-6 henry/metre (approx)

CGS Units
Quantity

Symbol

Dimensions

Dimensions ESU

EMU

Mass

gram

gram

Length

centimetre

centimetre

Time

second

second

Power

ML2T-3

ML2T-3

erg/second

erg/second

Electric Current

ML1T-2

statamp

biot

Charge

TI

ML1T-1

franklin

abcoulomb

Electric Potential

ML2T-3I-1

MLT-1

statvolt

abvolt
(lines/second)

Resistance

ML2T-3I-2

L-1T

statohm

abohm

Conductance

M-1L-2T3I2

LT-1

statsiemens

absiemens

Inductance

ML2T-2I-2

L-1T2

stathenry

abhenry

Capacitance

M-1L-2T4I2

cm

abfarad

Electric field strength

MLT-3I-1

ML-T-1

statvolt/cm

abvolt/cm

Electric displacement

L-2TI

ML1T-1

statcoulomb cm-2

abcoulomb cm2

Dielectric constant
Magnetic pole

Magnetic Potential
Magnetic field strength

M-1L-3T4I2

none

LI

ML2T-2

unit pole
dyne cm-1
= 4 lines of
force

ML1T-2

gilbert

L-1I

MLT-2

oersted

none

none

ML2T-2I-1

Magnetic flux

ML

maxwell
= 1 line

Magnetic Induction
(Magnetic flux density)

Magnetic permeability
Magnetic susceptibility

(or k)

MT-2I-1

ML-1

gauss
= 1 line cm-2

MLT-2I-2

L-2T2

darcy

ML1T-2I-1

none

none

none

Intensity of
Magnetisation

M (or I)
=J

L-1I

MLT-2

pole cm-2

Magnetic Moment

L2I

ML3T-2

pole cm

Magneto Motive force

ML1T-2

gilbert

Magnetic Reluctance

L-2M-1T2I2

LT-2

gilbert/biot

Notes:
In the first column of Dimensions, I is used as a basic unit.
In the second it is expressed in terms of Length, Mass and Time.

Gaussian Units
The Gaussian system uses a mix of Electrostatic and Electromagnetic units
There are two common forms, Gaussian and Modified Gaussian, which defines electric current
in terms of magnetic units
Quantity

Symbol

Gaussian

Modified Gaussian

Electric Current

ESU franklin

EMU biot

Charge

ESU statcoulomb

ESU statcoulomb

Electric Potential

ESU statvolt

ESU statvolt

Resistance

ESU statohm

ESU statohm

Inductance

EMU abhenry

cm

Capacitance

cm

cm

Electric field strength

ESU statvolt/cm

ESU statvolt/cm

ESU statcoulomb/cm2

ESU statcoulomb/cm2

none

none

EMU unit pole

EMU unit pole

EMU gilbert

EMU gilbert

EMU oersted

EMU oersted

EMU maxwell
= 1 line

EMU maxwell
= 1 line

EMU gauss

EMU gauss

Magnetic permeability

EMU darcy

EMU darcy

Magnetic susceptibility

none

none

Electric displacement

Dielectric constant
Magnetic pole

Magnetic Potential
Magnetic field strength

Magnetic flux
Magnetic Induction
(Magnetic flux density)

Intensity of
Magnetisation

EMU pole cm-2

EMU pole cm-2

Magnetic Moment

EMU pole cm

EMU pole cm

Magneto Motive force

EMU gilbert

EMU gilbert

Magnetic Reluctance

EMU

EMU

Conversion of Gaussian formulae into SI

To convert a formula from the Gauss form into the SI form, replace the elements on both sides of
the equation using the table below. Mass, Length, Time and others not listed below are not
changed.
Quantity

Gaussian

Electric Current

Electric Current in EMU

Charge

Electric Potential, PD, EMF

Resistance

SI
I/
I
Q/
V
R

Inductance

Capacitance

Electric field strength

Electric displacement

L
C/(
E
D

Dielectric constant
Magnetic pole

/
P

Magnetic Potential
Magnetic field strength

Magnetic flux
Magnetic Induction

(Magnetic flux density)

Magnetic permeability

Magnetic susceptibility

or k

Intensity of Magnetisation

Magnetic Moment

Magneto Motive force

Magnetic Reluctance

Example of formula conversion

Maxwell's equations

M
m
G
S

In Gaussian units:

On conversion to SI units these become:

On simplifying

Then using

we get:

Approximate ESU/EMU units in terms of SI units

Quantity

1 ESU unit

1 EMU unit

Current
Charge
Potential
Power
Resistance
Conductance
Inductance
Capacitance
Magnetic flux
Magnetic induction
Magnetic field strength
Magnetisation
Electric field strength
Electric displacement

334 A
334 C
300 V
100 nW
90 G
1 pS
90 GH
1 pF
300 Wb
3 MT
3 nA/metre
33 nA/metre
30000 V/metre
265 nC/metre

10 A
10 C
10 nV
100 nW
1n
1 GS
1 nH
1 GF
10 nWb
100 T
80 A/metre
1000 A/metre
1 V/metre
8000 C/metre

The electrostatic system of units is a system of units used to measure electrical quantities of
electric charge, electric current, and voltage within the centimeter-gram-second (or "CGS")
system of metric units.
In electrostatic units, electrical charge is defined by the force that it exerts on other charges.
Although the CGS units have mostly been supplanted by the MKSA (meter-kilogram-secondampere) or International System of Units (SI) units, the electrostatic units are still in occasional
use in some applications, most notably in certain fields of physics such as in particle physics and
astrophysics.
The main electrostatic units are:

The statcoulomb, called the franklin or the "esu" for electric charge.

The statvolt for voltage.

The gauss for magnetic induction.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070129063539/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/online/electron/section2/discovery.asp
http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/millikanoildrop.html