Electrical contacts Electrical contacts An electrical contact is an electrical circuit component found in electrical switches, relays, connectors and circuit breakers. Each contact is a piece of electrically conductive material, usually metal. When a pair of contacts touch, they can pass an electrical current with a certain contact resistance, dependent on surface structure, surface chemistry and contact time; when the pair is separated by an insulating gap, then the pair does not pass a current. When the contacts touch, the switch is "closed"; when the contacts are separated, the switch is "open". The gap must be an insulating medium such as air,
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