The tesla (symbol T) is the compound derived SI unit of magnetic flux density or magnetic inductivity. At the Conference General des Poids et Mesures (CGPM) in Paris in 1960, the unit was named in honor of the Serbian-American inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla who made several important contributions to the field of electromagnetism.
- 1 T = 1 V · s · m -2 = 1 kg · s -2 · A -1 = 1 N · A -1 m -1 = 1 Wb · m -2
A smaller derived unit, the gauss = 10-4 T, was once used.
- In outer space the magnetic flux density is between 10-10 T and 10-8 T,
- in the Earth's magnetic field at latitude of 50° is 2 · 10-5 T and on the equator at a latitude of 0° is 3.1 · 10-5 T,
- in the magnetic field of a huge horseshoe magnet 0,001 T,
- in a sunspot 10 T,
- strongest continuous magnetic field yet produced in a laboratory (Florida State University's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, USA, September 2003), 25 T. It is possible to generate much stronger fields in a laboratory in a pulse lasting a few milliseconds,
- on a neutron star 106 T to 108 T,
- on a magnetar, 108 to 1011 T,
- maximum theoretical field strength for a neutron star, and therefore for any known phenomenon, 1013 T.
Geophysics uses a unit of 1 γ = 10 -9 T.