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The ampere is an SI base unit and electric current is a base quantity in the International System of Quantities (ISQ). [4]: 15 Electric current is also known as amperage and is measured using a device called an ammeter. [2]: 788 Electric currents create magnetic fields, which are used in motors, generators, inductors, and transformers.
The magnetic field (marked B, indicated by red field lines) around wire carrying an electric current (marked I) Compass and wire apparatus showing Ørsted's experiment (video [1]) In electromagnetism , Ørsted's law , also spelled Oersted's law , is the physical law stating that an electric current induces a magnetic field .
Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even through a vacuum as in electron or ion beams. The electric current flows in a constant direction, distinguishing it from alternating current (AC). A term formerly used for this type of current was galvanic current. [1]
Position vectors r and r′ used in the calculation. The starting point is Maxwell's equations in the potential formulation using the Lorenz gauge: =, = where φ(r, t) is the electric potential and A(r, t) is the magnetic vector potential, for an arbitrary source of charge density ρ(r, t) and current density J(r, t), and is the D'Alembert operator. [2]
In electromagnetism, an eddy current (also called Foucault's current) is a loop of electric current induced within conductors by a changing magnetic field in the conductor according to Faraday's law of induction or by the relative motion of a conductor in a magnetic field. Eddy currents flow in closed loops within conductors, in planes ...
The electric motor exploits an important effect of electromagnetism: a current through a magnetic field experiences a force at right angles to both the field and current. This relationship between magnetic fields and currents is extremely important, for it led to Michael Faraday's invention of the electric motor in 1821.
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This field causes, by electromagnetic induction, an electric current to flow in the wire loop on the right. The most widespread version of Faraday's law states: The electromotive force around a closed path is equal to the negative of the time rate of change of the magnetic flux enclosed by the path.