CGS e.s. unit to Gaussian electric current
CGS ESU
G cgs
Conversion History
| Conversion | Reuse | Delete |
|---|---|---|
1 CGS ESU (CGS e.s. unit) → 1.00000001498962230569 G cgs (Gaussian electric current) Just now |
Quick Reference Table (CGS e.s. unit to Gaussian electric current)
| CGS e.s. unit (CGS ESU) | Gaussian electric current (G cgs) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.00000001498962230569 |
| 10 | 10.0000001498962230569 |
| 100 | 100.000001498962230569 |
| 1,000,000 | 1,000,000.01498962230569 |
| 1,000,000,000 | 1,000,000,014.98962230569 |
| 3,000,000,000 | 3,000,000,044.96886691707 |
About CGS e.s. unit (CGS ESU)
The CGS electrostatic unit (CGS e.s. unit) of current equals approximately 3.335641×10⁻¹⁰ amperes, identical to the statampere or ESU of current. In the CGS electrostatic subsystem, current is defined as statcoulombs per second, giving one CGS e.s. unit per second of charge flow. The CGS-ESU system places Coulomb s law in a clean constant-free form but produces cumbersome dimensions for magnetic quantities. It was used in early electrostatics, cathode-ray tube physics, and vacuum science. All modern work uses SI. The factor 1/c (in CGS cm/s) converts ESU current to SI amperes.
1 CGS e.s. unit ≈ 3.336×10⁻¹⁰ A. A 1 A current equals about 3×10⁹ CGS e.s. units — illustrating the enormous scale difference between the ESU and SI systems.
About Gaussian electric current (G cgs)
The Gaussian unit of electric current equals approximately 3.335641×10⁻¹⁰ amperes, derived from the Gaussian CGS system in which the speed of light c enters electromagnetic relations explicitly rather than through permittivity or permeability constants. One Gaussian current unit equals one statampere — one statcoulomb per second — and the SI conversion is I_SI = I_Gaussian × c_cm/s / 10, where c ≈ 2.998×10¹⁰ cm/s. The Gaussian system remains common in theoretical and computational physics, plasma physics, quantum electrodynamics, and astrophysics literature where its symmetric treatment of electric and magnetic fields simplifies equations.
1 Gaussian current unit ≈ 3.336×10⁻¹⁰ A. Plasma physics and astrophysics papers routinely quote electromagnetic quantities in Gaussian units rather than SI.
CGS e.s. unit – Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the CGS e.s. unit so different in magnitude from the CGS e.m. unit?
The e.m. unit equals 10 A while the e.s. unit equals 3.3 × 10⁻¹⁰ A — a ratio of about 3 × 10¹⁰, which is the speed of light in cm/s. This enormous factor reflects the fundamental relationship c² = 1/(ε₀μ₀). The two systems were designed to simplify different sets of equations, and the speed of light is the price of bridging them.
What made the CGS electrostatic system useful for early vacuum physics?
In vacuum tubes and cathode ray experiments, electrostatic forces dominate — no magnetic materials, no currents in bulk conductors. The ESU system made Coulomb's law beautifully simple: F = q₁q₂/r² with no constants. For computing electron trajectories in early TV tubes and oscilloscopes, this simplicity was genuinely helpful.
How did early CRT televisions use electrostatic units in beam deflection design?
Early cathode ray tubes used electrostatic deflection plates to steer the electron beam. Engineers working in CGS-ESU could calculate beam deflection angles directly from plate voltage and geometry using Coulomb's law without extra constants. The tiny ESU currents matched the actual beam currents (microamperes), making the numbers more intuitive than working in amperes for these minuscule electron flows.
How do I know if an old paper is using CGS e.s. or CGS e.m. units?
Check the context and the magnitude of numbers. If currents are tiny numbers where you would expect amperes, it is ESU. If they are 1/10 of expected ampere values, it is EMU. Good papers state which system they use, but many older ones do not. The equations themselves also differ — look for factors of c or 4π.
Could the CGS electrostatic system handle magnetic phenomena?
Technically yes, but clumsily. In pure CGS-ESU, the magnetic field has dimensions involving the speed of light, and equations for inductance and magnetic force become awkward. This is exactly why the Gaussian hybrid was invented — it uses ESU for electric quantities and EMU for magnetic ones, giving clean equations for both.
Gaussian electric current – Frequently Asked Questions
Why do astrophysicists prefer Gaussian units over SI?
In Gaussian units, electric and magnetic fields have the same dimensions, and Maxwell's equations look more symmetric — no ε₀ or μ₀ cluttering the formulas. When you study electromagnetic radiation in vacuum (starlight, cosmic rays, pulsar emissions), this symmetry is physically meaningful and simplifies calculations considerably.
What makes Gaussian CGS different from pure ESU or EMU?
Gaussian is a hybrid: it uses ESU conventions for electric quantities (charge, electric field, current) and EMU conventions for magnetic quantities (magnetic field, flux). This cherry-picking gives clean equations for both electrostatic and magnetic phenomena, at the cost of the speed of light appearing explicitly in equations linking electric and magnetic fields.
What happens to the fine-structure constant when you switch from SI to Gaussian units?
In SI, the fine-structure constant α = e²/(4πε₀ℏc) ≈ 1/137. In Gaussian units, ε₀ disappears and α simplifies to e²/(ℏc) — cleaner and more physically transparent. This is one reason particle physicists and quantum electrodynamics theorists favor Gaussian: fundamental constants combine more naturally, and the coupling strength of electromagnetism is immediately visible as α ≈ 1/137.
How do Gaussian units make Maxwell's equations look more elegant?
In Gaussian CGS, Maxwell's equations replace ε₀ and μ₀ with explicit factors of c, and the electric field E and magnetic field B end up with the same dimensions. The symmetric form ∇×E = −(1/c)∂B/∂t and ∇×B = (1/c)∂E/∂t reveals that E and B are equal partners in electromagnetic waves — a physical insight that SI's asymmetric constants obscure.
Why does Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics textbook use Gaussian units?
J.D. Jackson chose Gaussian units because they reveal the deep symmetry between electric and magnetic fields and make relativistic electrodynamics equations cleaner. His textbook, used in virtually every physics PhD program since 1962, cemented Gaussian as the "language" of theoretical electromagnetism. Later editions added SI appendices as a concession to modernity.