INTRODUCTION. xU 



national committee since 1910, but no agreement upon final specifications has 

 yet been reached. 



Resistance Standards Used in Current Measurements. — Precise measure- 

 ments of currents require a potentiometer, a standard cell and a resistance 

 standard. The resistance must be so designed as to carry the maximum current 

 without undue heating and consequent change of resistance. Accordingly the 

 resistance metal must have a small temperature resistance coefficient and a 

 suflficient area in contact with the air, oil, or other cooUng fluid. It must have 

 a small thermal electromotive force against copper. Manganin satisfies these 

 conditions and is usually used. The terminals of the standard must have suffi- 

 cient contact area so that there shall be no undue heating at contacts.^ It must 

 be so designed that the current distribution does not depend upon the mode of 

 connection to the circuit. 



Absolute Ampere. — The absolute ampere (io~^c.g.s. electromagnetic units) 

 differs by a neghgible amount from the international ampere. Since the dimen- 

 sional formula of the current in the electromagnetic system is [LW'/^M'] which 

 is equivalent to C^Vm^]; the absolute measurement of current involves funda- 

 mentally the measurement of a force in a medium of unit permeabiUty. In most 

 measurements of high precision an electrodynamometer has been used of the 

 form known as a current balance. A summary of the various determinations 

 will be found in Table 293 of the 6th Revised Edition of these tables. 



The best value is probably the mean of the determinations made at the U. S. 

 Bureau of Standards, the National Physical Laboratory and at the University 

 of Groningen, which gives 



I international ampere = 0.99991 absolute ampere. 



The separate values were 0.99992, 0.99988 and 0.99994, respectively. "The 

 result may also be expressed in terms of the electrochemical equivalent of silver, 

 which, based on the '1910 mean voltameter,' thus equals 0.00111810 g per 

 absolute coulomb. By the definition of the international ampere, the value is 

 c.ooiiiSoo g per international coulomb." 



ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE. 



International Volt. — " The international volt is derived from the interna- 

 tional ohm and ampere by Ohm's law. Its value is maintained by the aid of the 

 Weston normal cell. The national standardizing laboratories have groups of 

 such cells, to which values in terms of the international ohm and ampere have 

 been assigned by international experiments, and thus form a basis of reference 

 for the standardization of the standard cells used in practical measurements." 



"Weston Normal Cell. — The Weston normal cell is the standard used to 

 maintain the international volt and, in conjunction with resistance standards, 

 to maintain the international ampere. The cell is a simple voltaic combination 



^ See "Report to the International Committee on Electrical Units and Standards," 1912, p. 

 199. For the Bureau of Standards investigations see Bull. Bureau of Standards, 9, pp. 209, 493; 

 10, P- 475, 1912-14; I3i P- 147, 1915; 9, P- iSit 1912: 13, pp. 447. 479, 1916. 



