Imperial and US customary measurement systems (42 US gallons, 34.97 imperial gallons or 159.0 litres) used in the oil industry has the dimension of volume and could be replaced by the gallon, cubic metre or litre. The definitions of potential difference (volt), electric current (ampere), electrical resistance (ohm) were defined in terms of metric units, international agreement having been reached at a series of IEC Congress in Chicago between 1881 and 1906 when the electrical industry was in its infancy. At that time the metric system had become established in continental Europe while in the United Kingdom metrication was an active issue. Similarly, the units of
Ampere equal to newtons per metre of length. Ampère's force law states that there is an attractive or repulsive force between two parallel wires carrying an electric current. This force is used in the formal definition of the ampere. The SI unit of charge, the coulomb, "is the quantity of electricity carried in 1 second by a current of 1 ampere". Conversely, a current of one ampere is one coulomb of charge going past a given point per second: In general, charge "Q" is determined by steady current "I" flowing for a time "t" as . Constant, instantaneous and average current