coulomb
the derived SI unit of electric charge; the quantity of electricity transported in one second by a current of 1 ampere.
Coulomb
Charles Augustin de . 1736--1806, French physicist: made many discoveries in the field of electricity and magnetism
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
coulomb
[′kü‚läm] (electricity)
A unit of electric charge, defined as the amount of electric charge that crosses a surface in 1 second when a steady current of 1 absolute ampere is flowing across the surface; this is the absolute coulomb and has been the legal standard of quantity of electricity since 1950; the previous standard was the international coulomb, equal to 0.999835 absolute coulomb. Abbreviated coul. Symbolized C.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
coulomb
A standard unit of electrical charge. Pronounced "kool-ahm," one coulomb (C) is equivalent to one amp of current flowing through a conductor for one second. It is also equal to 6.25 quintillion electrons (6.25 X 10 to the 18th). From French physicist Charles de Coulomb (1736-1806), who measured the behavior of electrical charges. See capacitance.Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Coulomb
(1) A unit of the quantity of electricity (electric charge) in the International System of Units (SI). It was named in honor of the French physicist C. Coulomb. The abbreviations are k in Russian and C in the international system. One coulomb is the charge carried through the cross section of a conductor in 1 sec by a current of 1 ampere. The relationships between the coulomb and the units of charge in the cgs system of units are as follows: 1 C = 3 X 109 units of the cgs electrostatic (cgs esu) system; 1 C = 0.1 unit of the cgs electromagnetic (cgs emu) system.
(2) The unit of flux of electric displacement (the flux of electric induction) in the SI system of units: 1 C is the electric flux through a closed surface that contains a free charge of 1 C. The relationships between the coulomb and the unit of electric flux in the cgs system of units are as follows: 1 C ≃ 4π X 3 X 109 units of the cgs esu system; 1 C = 0.4π units of the cgs emu system.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.