Accurate conversions between ampere units are crucial for engineers, electricians, and students who work with electrical systems. Manually switching between units such as milliamperes, amperes, and other variations can be time-consuming and prone to errors, potentially leading to costly mistakes in circuit design, equipment repairs, or laboratory experiments.
Our electrical current unit converter simplifies this task by quickly and accurately converting values across various units, from attoamperes to exaamperes. Input your value, select the units, and receive reliable results instantly, whether you are troubleshooting a device or analyzing industrial power systems.
Definitions
What is Electrical Current?
Electrical current is the rate at which charge flows through a conductor. It is measured in amperes (A) and depends on the voltage applied and the properties of the material carrying the charge. In a conducting wire, electrons move due to an electric field, reaching a steady drift velocity, similar to an object falling through the atmosphere and reaching terminal velocity.[1]
What is an Ampere?
The ampere (A) is the SI base unit of electric current, representing the amount of charge passing through a conductor per second[2]. It is defined based on the elementary charge (e), where 1 A = 1 coulomb per second (C/s).
Ampere also has an informal abbreviation called "amp" that is commonly used in everyday conversation and practical electrical contexts. Since 2019, the ampere has been defined using the fixed value of the charge of a single electron or proton (1.602176634 × 10⁻¹⁹ C), ensuring precision in electrical measurements.
Electric current is the concept, and amperes are how we measure it, similar to measuring distance in meters or temperature in Celsius.
SI Units
The SI (International System of Units) unit system[3] follows a decimal-based structure, where each unit is a multiple or fraction of 10 (10⁰, 10¹, 10², etc.). The table below lists the standard SI prefixes for amperes, along with their symbols, multipliers, and names.[4]
| Submultiples | Multiples | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | SI symbol | Name | Value | SI symbol | Name |
| 10−1 A | dA | deciampere | 101 A | daA | decaampere |
| 10−2 A | cA | centiampere | 102 A | hA | hectoampere |
| 10−3 A | mA | milliampere | 103 A | kA | kiloampere |
| 10−6 A | μA | microampere | 106 A | MA | megaampere |
| 10−9 A | nA | nanoampere | 109 A | GA | gigaampere |
| 10−12 A | pA | picoampere | 1012 A | TA | teraampere |
| 10−15 A | fA | femtoampere | 1015 A | PA | petaampere |
| 10−18 A | aA | attoampere | 1018 A | EA | exaampere |
| 10−21 A | zA | zeptoampere | 1021 A | ZA | zettaampere |
| 10−24 A | yA | yoctoampere | 1024 A | YA | yottaampere |
| 10−27 A | rA | rontoampere | 1027 A | RA | ronnaampere |
| 10−30 A | qA | quectoampere | 1030 A | QA | quettaampere |
These prefixes help simplify electric current measurements across a wide range of applications, from microelectronics to high-power systems.
Conversion table
The table below provides a quick reference for converting commonly used ampere units, ranging from nanoamperes to gigaamperes, to help you perform conversions efficiently.
| From | Nanoampere | Microampere | Milliampere | Ampere | Kiloampere | Megaampere | Gigaampere |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 nanoampere = | 1 nA | 0.001 µA | 0.000001 mA | 0.000000001 A | 0.000000000001 kA | 0.000000000000001 MA | 0.000000000000000001 GA |
| 1 microampere = | 1,000 nA | 1 µA | 0.001 mA | 0.000001 A | 0.000000001 kA | 0.000000000001 MA | 0.000000000000001 GA |
| 1 milliampere = | 1,000,000 nA | 1,000 µA | 1 mA | 0.001 A | 0.000001 kA | 0.000000001 MA | 0.000000000001 GA |
| 1 ampere = | 1,000,000,000 nA | 1,000,000 µA | 1,000 mA | 1 A | 0.001 kA | 0.000001 MA | 0.000000001 GA |
| 1 kiloampere = | 1,000,000,000,000 nA | 1,000,000,000 µA | 1,000,000 mA | 1,000 A | 1 kA | 0.001 MA | 0.000001 GA |
| 1 megaampere = | 1,000,000,000,000,000 nA | 1,000,000,000,000 µA | 1,000,000,000 mA | 1,000,000 A | 1,000 kA | 1 MA | 0.001 GA |
| 1 gigaampere = | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 nA | 1,000,000,000,000,000 µA | 1,000,000,000,000 mA | 1,000,000,000 A | 1,000,000 kA | 1,000 MA | 1 GA |
Examples
The following examples demonstrate how to convert between different electric current units, helping you apply these calculations in practical scenarios.
Example 1: Battery Life Analysis
Engineers designing smartphones analyze battery efficiency by monitoring power consumption in milliampere-hour (mAh). To compare device performance across different models, current must be converted from milliamperes to amperes to standardize energy consumption data.
If a smartphone battery consumes 2,500 milliamperes, how many amperes is that? You need it to evaluate the current consumption rate in mobile phone batteries.
Solution
Since 1 ampere (A) = 1,000 milliamperes (mA), we can convert 2,500 mA to A using the following formula:
Therefore, 2,500 mA is equivalent to 2.5 A.
To solve the problem with our calculator, follow the steps below:
- Select the "From" unit: Choose
mA = Milliamperefrom the dropdown menu. - Select the "To" unit: Choose
A = Amperefrom the dropdown menu. - Enter the value in milliamperes: For this example, enter
2,500into theFrombox. - View the result: The converter instantly calculates and displays the equivalent value in amperes:
2.5 A.
Example 2: Nanoampere Calibration in Transistor Testing
In semiconductor fabrication, engineers test ultra-low current flow through transistors to ensure proper functionality in microchips. The current typically operates in the microampere range, requiring conversion to amperes for consistency in large-scale electronic circuit testing.
If a transistor operates at 750 microamperes, how many amperes is that? You need it to calibrate current flow in a semiconductor manufacturing process.
Solution
Since 1 ampere (A) = 109 = 1,000,000 microamperes (µA), we can convert 750 µA to A using the following formula:
Therefore, 750 µA is equivalent to 0.00075 A.
To solve the problem with our calculator, follow the steps below:
- Select the "From" unit: Choose
µA = Microamperefrom the dropdown menu. - Select the "To" unit: Choose
A = Amperefrom the dropdown menu. - Enter the value in microamperes: For this example, enter
750into theFrombox. - View the result: The converter instantly calculates and displays the equivalent value in amperes:
0.00075 A.
You now know how to convert between electric current units. You can quickly use our calculator to convert between the electric current units to save time for future calculations.
