1) Unit of electric current. "The ampere is that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 meter apart in vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 × 10-7 newton per meter of length" CIPM 1946, Resolution 2, approved by the 9th CGPM 1948). A current of 1 A is equivalent to the passage along the filament of a light bulb of about 6 × 1018 electronic charges per second.

2) constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 meter apart in vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 × 10-7 newton per meter of length