An ampere, often shortened to “amp,” is a unit of electric current. It is the standard unit of measurement for electric current in the International System of Units (SI). One ampere is equal to one coulomb per second, or 6.241 × 10^18 electrons flowing past a given point in one second.
The ampere was named after André-Marie Ampère, a French mathematician and physicist who contributed greatly to the study of electromagnetism. He developed what became known as Ampere’s law, which states that the magnetic force between two conductors is proportional to the product of their currents and inversely proportional to the distance between them. This law helped lay the foundation for our understanding of electricity and magnetism today.
The ampere is an important unit when working with electrical circuits because it allows us to calculate things like voltage, resistance, and power consumption. For example, if we know that a circuit has a voltage (measured in volts) of 12 V and a current (measured in amps) of 2 A, then we can calculate its resistance using Ohm’s law: R = V/I = 12 V/2 A = 6 Ω.