Theabampere (abA), also called thebiot (Bi) afterJean-Baptiste Biot, is thederivedelectromagneticunit ofelectric current in theemu-cgs system of units (electromagnetic cgs). One abampere corresponds to tenamperes in theSI system of units. An abampere of current in a circular path of onecentimeter radius produces amagnetic field of 2π oersteds at the center of the circle.

The name abampere was introduced byKennelly in 1903 as a short name for the long name(absolute) electromagnetic cgs unit of current that was in use since the adoption of the cgs system in 1875.^[3] The abampere wascoherent with the emu-cgs system, in contrast to the ampere, thepractical unit of current that had been adopted too in 1875.

The emu-cgs (or "electromagnetic cgs") units are one of several systems of electromagnetic units within thecentimetre–gram–second system of units; others include esu-cgs,Gaussian units, andHeaviside–Lorentz units. In these other systems, the abampere isnot one of the units; the "statcoulomb per second" orstatampere is used instead.

The other units in this system related to the abampere are:

• abcoulomb – thecharge that passes in one second through any cross section of a conductor carrying a steady current of one abampere
• abhenry – the self-inductance of a circuit or the mutual inductance of two circuits in which the variation of current at the rate of one abampere per second results in an induced electromotive force of one abvolt
• abohm – theresistance of aconductor that, with a constant current of one abampere through it, maintains between its terminals a potential difference of one abvolt

• List of metric units

• Units of electric current
• Centimetre–gram–second system of units

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• Short description is different from Wikidata