Comments on units in magnetism

Abstract

Perus ing the 1974 M3 Confere nce Proceedings indicates that, at the present time, Systeme Internationale (S l) units are avo ided by mos t lead ing sc ienti s ts and e ngineers in the field of magneti sm. Throughout the Proceedings, almost universal preference is di s played for the cgs e lectromagnetic system (or for the Gaussian system, which gives an equ ivalent description of magnetic quantities). Howe ver, usage of SI units in the fi eld of magneti sm will undoubtedly inc rease with time. One barri er to inc reased usage is the present lack of standardized and agreed upon rela tion ships be tween magne tic quantities within the SI. In this paper we will tentatively propose notation and de finiti ons for those relationships most freque ntly used by experimentali sts, with the hope that this will help stimul ate the magneti sm community to make their vi ews known on prefe rred de finition s.