Electric current metal (ideal) resistor (or other ohmic device): where formula_6 is the current, measured in amperes; formula_26 is the potential difference, measured in volts; and formula_27 is the resistance, measured in ohms. For alternating currents, especially at higher frequencies, skin effect causes the current to spread unevenly across the conductor cross-section, with higher density near the surface, thus increasing the apparent resistance. The mobile charged particles within a conductor move constantly in random directions, like the particles of a gas. (More accurately, a Fermi gas.) To create a net flow of charge, the particles must also move together with an average
Ohm 1881 the "Congrès internationale des électriciens" (international conference of electricians) defined a "practical" unit of Ohm for the resistance, based on CGS units, using a mercury column 1 sq. mm. in cross-section, approximately 104.9 cm in length at 0 °C, similar to the apparatus suggested by Siemens. A "legal" ohm, a reproducible standard, was defined by the international conference of electricians at Paris in 1884 as the resistance of a mercury column of specified weight and 106 cm long; this was a compromise value between the B. A. unit (equivalent to 104.7 cm), the Siemens unit (100 cm by definition),