Glossary

An ampere (symbol A) is the SI unit of electric current—it measures the rate of flow of electric charge. In plain industrial terms, it’s “how much electrical ‘flow’ is moving through a conductor right now.”

Formally, current is charge per time, so you can think of it as: 1 A = 1 coulomb per second (1 C/s). That means if 1 ampere is flowing, about 6.24 × 10^18 electrons pass a point in a wire each second (that’s just converting coulombs to electron count).

In practical shop/facility terms, amps show up everywhere: motor nameplates (full-load amps), breaker and fuse sizing, wire gauge selection, battery capacity and charging, power supply ratings, and troubleshooting (overcurrent = overheating/trips). Also: amps don’t tell the whole story alone—what the system is doing depends on voltage and the load. Power is commonly related by P = V × I (watts = volts × amps) for DC and simple AC cases, which is why “high amps at low volts” can deliver the same power as “low amps at high volts,” just with different wiring/protection implications.

AKA: Amp