Electric current Electric current An electric current is a flow of electric charge. In electric circuits this charge is often carried by moving electrons in a wire. It can also be carried by ions in an electrolyte, or by both ions and electrons such as in an ionised gas (plasma). The SI unit for measuring an electric current is the ampere, which is the flow of electric charge across a surface at the rate of one coulomb per second. Electric current is measured using a device called an ammeter. Electric currents cause Joule heating, which creates light in incandescent light bulbs. They
Conventional electrical unit any observed variation over space or time in the value of the fine-structure constant, α, is attributed to variation in the Coulomb constant or vacuum permittivity or, since the speed of light, "c", is fixed, as a variation in the vacuum permeability. The following table provides a comparison of conventional electrical units with other natural unit systems: Conventional electrical unit A conventional electrical unit (or conventional unit where there is no risk of ambiguity) is a unit of measurement in the field of electricity which is based on the so-called "conventional values" of the Josephson constant and the von Klitzing