Tesla
The
tesla (symbol
T) is the compound derived
SI unit of
magnetic flux density or magnetic inductivity. At the
Conference General des Poids et Mesures (
CGPM) in
Paris in
1960, the unit was named in honor of the
Serbian-
American inventor and
electrical engineer Nikola Tesla who made several important contributions to the field of
electromagnetism.
- 1 T = 1 V · s · m -2 = 1 kg · s -2 · A -1 = 1 N · A -1 m -1 = 1 Wb · m -2
A smaller derived unit, the
gauss = 10
-4 T, was once used.
- In outer space the magnetic flux density is between 10-10 T and 10-8 T,
- in the Earth's magnetic field at latitude of 50° is 2 · 10-5 T and on the equator at a latitude of 0° is 3.1 · 10-5 T,
- in the magnetic field of a huge horseshoe magnet 0,001 T,
- in a sunspot 10 T,
- strongest continuous magnetic field yet produced in a laboratory (Florida State University's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, USA, September 2003), 25 T. It is possible to generate much stronger fields in a laboratory in a pulse lasting a few milliseconds,
- on a neutron star 106 T to 108 T,
- on a magnetar, 108 to 1011 T,
- maximum theoretical field strength for a neutron star, and therefore for any known phenomenon, 1013 T.
Geophysics uses a unit of 1 γ = 10
-9 T.