Elementary Charge As A Unit
See also: New SI definitions|
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| Unit system: | Atomic units |
| Unit of... | electric charge |
| Symbol: | e |
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| 1 e in... | is equal to... |
| coulomb | 1.602176565(35)×10−19 |
| statcoulomb | 4.80320425(10)×10−10 |
In some natural unit systems, such as the system of atomic units, e functions as the unit of electric charge, that is e is equal to 1 e in those unit systems. The use of elementary charge as a unit was promoted by George Johnstone Stoney in 1874 for the first system of natural units, called Stoney units. Later, he proposed the name electron for this unit. At the time, the particle we now call the electron was not yet discovered and the difference between the particle electron and the unit of charge electron was still blurred. Later, the name electron was assigned to the particle and the unit of charge e lost its name. However, the unit of energy electronvolt reminds us that the elementary charge was once called electron.
The magnitude of the elementary charge was first measured in Robert A. Millikan's noted oil drop experiment in 1909.
Read more about this topic: Elementary Charge
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