Tesla (T)

Also called T, Newton per ampere-metre

The tesla is the SI unit of magnetic field strength, equal to one newton per ampere-metre. It is a large unit: Earth's field at the surface is a few tens of microtesla, while a hospital MRI magnet runs at 1.5 or 3 tesla.

Magnetic field strength takes its unit from the force it produces, not from any property a magnet owns. Rearrange the sheet's FB=IBsinθF_B = I\ell B\sin\theta with the wire perpendicular to the field:

1 T=1 NAm1\ \text{T} = 1\ \frac{\text{N}}{\text{A} \cdot \text{m}}

The other printed force law, FB=qvBsinθF_B = qvB\sin\theta, gives the same unit spelled differently, 1 Ns/(Cm)1\ \text{N} \cdot \text{s}/(\text{C} \cdot \text{m}), since a coulomb per second is an ampere.

One tesla is a great deal of field. It means a 11 A current in a 11 m length of perpendicular wire feels a whole newton. Real values sit far below:

SourceRough magnitude
Earth's field at the surfacetens of microtesla
A refrigerator magneta few millitesla
A hospital MRI magnet1.51.5 to 33 T

The sheet's own source equation agrees. With B=μ0I/(2πr)B = \mu_0 I/(2\pi r) and μ0=4π×107 (Tm)/A\mu_0 = 4\pi \times 10^{-7}\ (\text{T} \cdot \text{m})/\text{A}, a 1.01.0 A wire produces 2.0×1052.0 \times 10^{-5} T at 1.01.0 cm, so magnetism answers usually land in microtesla or millitesla.

The weber is not on any AP sheet. A tesla is sometimes described as a weber per square metre, from ΦB=BA\Phi_B = \vec{B} \cdot \vec{A}, but none of the four unit-symbol tables prints the weber. Give magnetic flux in Tm2\text{T} \cdot \text{m}^2 and it will always be recognised.

Tesla is printed on the AP Physics 2 and AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism unit-symbol tables.

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