|Unit system||SI derived unit|
|Unit of||Magnetic flux density|
|Named after||Nikola Tesla|
|In SI base units:||1 T = 1 kg·s−2·A−1|
The tesla (symbol T) is the SI derived unit of magnetic induction or magnetic flux density, commonly denoted as B. One tesla is equal to one weber per square metre, and it was named in 1960 in honour of Nikola Tesla. The strongest fields encountered from permanent magnets are from Halbach spheres which can be over 4.5 T. The unit was announced during the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures in 1960.
A particle carrying a charge of 1 coulomb and passing through a magnetic field of 1 tesla at a speed of 1 meter per second perpendicular to said field experiences a force with magnitude 1 newton, according to the Lorentz force law. As an SI derived unit, the tesla can also be expressed as
- A = ampere
- C = coulomb
- kg = kilogram
- m = meter
- N = newton
- s = second
- H = henry
- T = tesla
- V = volt
- J = joule
- Wb = weber
Electric vs. magnetic field
In the production of the Lorentz force, the difference between these types of field is that a force from a magnetic field on a charged particle is generally due to the charged particle's movement while the force imparted by an electric field on a charged particle is not due to the charged particle's movement. This may be appreciated by looking at the units for each. The unit of electric field in the MKS system of units is newtons per coulomb, N/C, while the magnetic field (in teslas) can be written as N/(C·m/s). The dividing factor between the two types of field is meters/second (m/s), which is velocity. This relationship immediately highlights the fact that whether a static electromagnetic field is seen as purely magnetic, or purely electric, or some combination of these, is dependent upon one's reference frame (that is: one's velocity relative to the field).
In ferromagnets, the movement creating the magnetic field is the electron spin (and to a lesser extent electron orbital angular momentum). In a current-carrying wire (electromagnets) the movement is due to electrons moving through the wire (whether the wire is straight or circular).
1 tesla is equivalent to:
- 10,000 (or 104) G (gauss), used in the CGS system. Thus, 10 kG = 1 T (tesla), and 1 G = 10−4 T.
- 1,000,000,000 (or 109) γ (gammas), used in geophysics. Thus, 1 γ = 1 nT (nanotesla).
- 42.6 MHz of the 1H nucleus frequency, in NMR. Thus a 1 GHz NMR magnetic field is 23.5 teslas.
For those concerned with low-frequency electromagnetic radiation in the home, the following conversions are needed most:
- 1000 nT (nanoteslas) = 1 µT (microtesla) = 10 mG (milligauss)
- 1,000,000 µT = 1 T
- 31.869 µT (3.1 × 10−5 T) – strength of Earth's magnetic field at 0° latitude, 0° longitude
- 5 mT – the strength of a typical refrigerator magnet
- 0.3 T – the strength of solar sunspots
- 1.25 T – magnetic field intensity at the surface of a neodymium magnet
- 1 T to 2.4 T – coil gap of a typical loudspeaker magnet
- 1.5 T to 3 T – strength of medical magnetic resonance imaging systems in practice, experimentally up to 17 T
- 4 T – strength of the superconducting magnet built around the CMS detector at CERN
- 8 T – the strength of LHC magnets.
- 11.75 T – the strength of INUMAC magnets, largest MRI scanner.
- 13 T – strength of the superconducting ITER magnet system 
- 16 T – magnetic field strength required to levitate a frog (via diamagnetic levitation of the water in its body tissues) according to the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 17.6 T – strongest field trapped in superconductor in lab as of July 2014 
Notes and references
- "Details of SI units". sizes.com. 2011-07-01. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- The International System of Units (SI), 8th edition, BIPM, eds. (2006), ISBN 92-822-2213-6, Table 3. Coherent derived units in the SI with special names and symbols
- Gregory, Frederick (2003). History of Science 1700 to Present. The Teaching Company.
- Parker, Eugene (2007). Conversations on electric and magnetic fields in the cosmos. Princeton University press. p. 65.
- Kurt, Oughstun (2006). Electromagnetic and optical pulse propagation. Springer. p. 81.
- Herman, Stephen (2003). Delmar's standard textbook of electricity. Delmar Publishers. p. 97.
- McGraw Hill Encyclopaedia of Physics (2nd Edition), C.B. Parker, 1994, ISBN 0-07-051400-3
- "Geomagnetism Frequently Asked Questions". National Geophysical Data Center. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- "Ultra-High Field". Bruker BioSpin. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- "Superconducting Magnet in CMS". Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- "ISEULT - INUMAC". Retrieved 17 February 2014.
- "ITER – the way to new energy". Retrieved 2012-04-19.
- "Of Flying Frogs and Levitrons" by M.V. Berry and A.K. Geim, European Journal of Physics, v. 18, 1997, p. 307–13.". Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- "The 2000 Ig Nobel Prize Winners". Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- "Superconductor Traps The Strongest Magnetic Field Yet". Retrieved 2 July 2014.
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