What does the Oersted unit mean?

The Oersted unit is named after the Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Oersted. In 1820, he discovered the link between electric current and magnetism, although the latter had already been established before him, without going into detail or going into details.

Almost 40 years later, Maxwell clarified these relationships in Maxwell's equations, which still apply today as the basis of electromagnetism. The Oersted unit, on the other hand, has long been used as a unit in the CGS system of units for measuring magnetic fields, but it has not been an official unit since January 1, 1978. It has been replaced by amperes per meter.

The CGS unit system is also not used frequently. It was introduced in 1874 as a system of physical units, but was replaced in 1889 by the so-called MKS system of units. It is based on the units of meters, kilograms and seconds, which can also be displayed in centimeters, grams and seconds. In addition, there are the amperes for current, Kelvin for temperature and others.

How was the Oersted unit discovered?

Oersted's discovery of the connection between magnetism and electronics means as much as Maxwell's formulation. Oersted discovered this connection through a very simple experience.

Oersted noted that the compass needle, which is always oriented in the direction of our Earth's magnetic field and therefore points north, can be influenced by an external energy source. If you bring the compass parallel to a conductor cable and turn on the power, the compass needle aligns horizontally with the conductor and returns to its source as soon as the power is turned off.

From there, Oersted concluded that the energy source is surrounded by a magnetic field, which influences the compass.

In general, magnetic fields which are abbreviated as "H" are no longer measured in Oersted, but can still be converted to amps / meters. In this case, Oe means Oersted and A / m for amperes per meter. Therefore:

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