oersted oer·sted (ûr'stěd')
n.
The centimeter-gram-second electromagnetic unit of magnetic intensity, equal to the magnetic intensity one centimeter from a unit magnetic pole.
| Oersted, Hans Christian 1777-1851. Danish physicist who is credited as the founder of the science of electromagnetism. Oersted established the connection between electric current and magnetic force when he accidentally discovered that a compass's magnetic needle is deflected at right angles when placed next to a conductor carrying an electric current. The oersted unit of magnetic field strength is named after him. |
unit of magnetic-field strength, in the centimetre-gram-second system of physical units. Named for the 19th-century Danish physicist Hans Christian Orsted, it is defined as the intensity of a magnetic field in a vacuum in which a unit magnetic pole (one that repels a similar pole at a distance of one centimetre with a force of one dyne) experiences a mechanical force of one dyne in the direction of the field. Before 1932 the oersted was known as the gauss, a name sometimes still applied, though now more properly used for the unit of magnetic induction.