Weber (unit)

In physics, the weber (ˈveɪb-,_'wEb.ər ; symbol: Wb) is the unit of magnetic flux in the International System of Units (SI), whose units are volt-second. A magnetic flux density of one Wb/m2 (one weber per square metre) is one tesla. The weber is named after the German physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber (1804–1891). The weber may be defined in terms of Faraday's law, which relates a changing magnetic flux through a loop to the electric field around the loop. A change in flux of one weber per second will induce an electromotive force of one volt (produce an electric potential difference of one volt across two open-circuited terminals). Officially:Weber (unit of magnetic flux) — The weber is the magnetic flux that, linking a circuit of one turn, would produce in it an electromotive force of 1 volt if it were reduced to zero at a uniform rate in 1 second. That is: One weber is also the total magnetic flux across a surface of one square meter perpendicular to a magnetic flux density of one tesla; that is, Expressed only in SI base units, 1 weber is: The weber is used in the definition of the henry as 1 weber per ampere, and consequently can be expressed as the product of those units: The weber is commonly expressed in a multitude of other units: where Ω is ohm, C is coulomb, J is joule, and N is newton. In 1861, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (known as "The BA") established a committee under William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) to study electrical units. In a February 1902 manuscript, with handwritten notes of Oliver Heaviside, Giovanni Giorgi proposed a set of rational units of electromagnetism including the weber, noting that "the product of the volt into the second has been called the weber by the B. A." The International Electrotechnical Commission began work on terminology in 1909 and established Technical Committee 1 in 1911, its oldest established committee, "to sanction the terms and definitions used in the different electrotechnical fields and to determine the equivalence of the terms used in the different languages.