Gauss (unit)

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Physical unit
Unit name Gauss
Unit symbol
Physical quantity (s) Magnetic flux density
dimension
system Electromagnetic CGS unit system , Gaussian CGS unit system
In SI units
In CGS units
Named after Carl Friedrich Gauss

Gauss (in Switzerland or under English-speaking influence also Gauss ; unit symbols : Gs , G ; after Carl Friedrich Gauß ) is the unit of the magnetic flux density  B in the electromagnetic CGS system and in the Gaussian CGS system :

In Germany, the Gauss has not been a legal unit in metrology since 1970 , but is still used , especially in astrophysics . Instead, the legal unit of magnetic flux density in the EU and Switzerland is Tesla , the corresponding unit in the International System of Units  (SI):

Conversions

In parallel with Gauss, the unit gamma existed for the magnetic flux density :

The Gauss is often confused with the Gaussian CGS unit of the magnetic field strength  H, the Oersted , which can also be represented as in the Gaussian system of units and in electromagnetic CGS systems . The reason for this formal equality is that magnetic flux density and magnetic field strength in the above-mentioned unit systems are of the same dimension (unlike in the SI, where the two quantities always differ by the magnetic permeability or the magnetic field constant as a proportionality factor ).

Historical

"Gauss" as the name of the electromagnetic CGS unit for the magnetic field strength was specified in 1900 at the 5th  International Electricity Congress in Paris. As a result of a misunderstanding, the American delegates assumed that “Gauss” had been agreed as the name for the electromagnetic CGS unit of magnetic flux density . This ambiguity was cleared up in favor of the American view at the IEC meeting in Stockholm and Oslo in 1930 .

In 1933, at a meeting in Paris, the IEC stipulated that 1 cm −1/2 g 1/2 s −1 as the electromagnetic CGS unit of the magnetic field strength should be called Oersted.

The unit symbol "Gs" for Gauss was established by the IEC in 1935 at a conference in Scheveningen .

literature

  1. ^ Ulrich Stille: Measuring and calculating in physics . 2nd Edition. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1961, p. 212 .