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
International System of Electrical and Magnetic Units and Measures (CIPM) approved a new set of definitions for electrical units, based on the rationalized MKSA system, in 1946, and these were internationally adopted under the Metre Convention by the 9th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1948. Under this system, which would become the International System of Units (SI), the ohm is a derived unit. The SI definitions of the electrical units are formally equivalent to the 1908 international definitions, and so there should not have been any change in the size of the units. Nevertheless, the international ohm and the international volt were not usually realized