electrostatic units


electrostatic units

[i′lek·trə‚stad·ik ′yü·nəts] (electricity) A centimeter-gram-second system of electric and magnetic units in which the unit of charge is that charge which exerts a force of 1 dyne on another unit charge when separated from it by a distance of 1 centimeter in vacuum; other units are derived from this definition by assigning unit coefficients in equations relating electric and magnetic quantities. Abbreviated esu.