Orders of magnitude (current)

To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various ampere levels.

Factor (ampere)	Value	Item
10−19	160 zA	Current flow of one electron per second
10−12	1-15 pA	Range of currents associated with single ion channels [calcium (1 pA), sodium (10-14 pA), potassium (6 pA)] as measured by patch-clamp studies of biological membranes
10−5	10 μA	Minimum current necessary to cause death (by ventricular fibrillation when applied directly across the human heart) [1]
10−4	700 μA	Portable hearing aid (typically 1 mW at 1.4 V)
10−3	1 – 5mA	Cathode ray tube electron gun beam current [2]
10−2	10 mA	Through the hand to foot may cause a person to freeze and be unable to let go [1]
	20 mA	Common light-emitting diode (constant current); also deadly limit for skin contact (at 120–230 V)
	80 mA	Upper limit for TENS modeled for 500 Ω [3]
10−1	150 mA	230 V AC, 22-inch/56-centimeter portable television (35 W)
	166 mA	Typical 12 V motor vehicle instrument panel light
	250 – 450mA	230 V AC Tungsten incandescent light bulb (60–100 W)
	290 mA	120 V AC, 22-inch/56-centimeter portable television (35 W)
	500 – 830mA	120 V AC Tungsten incandescent light bulb (60–100 W)
100	1 A	Current flow of 1019 elementary charges every 1.602176634 seconds
	1 A	Typical iPhone charger (5 W)
	1.35 A	Tesla coil, 0.76 meters (2 ft 6 in) high, at 200 kV and 270 kV peak [4]
	2.1 A	High power LED current (peak 2.7 A) [5]
	5 A	One typical 12 V motor vehicle headlight (typically 60 W)
	9 A	230 V AC, toaster, kettle (2 kW)
101	10 or 20 A	230 V AC, Europe common domestic circuit breaker rating
	15 or 20 A	120 V AC, United States, Canada and Mexico domestic circuit breaker rating
	16.6 A	120 V AC, toaster, kettle (2 kW)
	20 A	230 V AC, Immersion heater (4.6 kW)
	24 A	12V DC, PC, High-performance graphics card (288W)
	38.3 A	120 V AC, Immersion heater (4.6 kW)
102	80–160 A	Typical 12 V motor vehicle starter motor (typically 1–2 kW)
	80–375 A	TIG welding arc [6]
	166 A	400 V low voltage secondary side distribution transformer with primary 12 kV; 200 kVA (up to 1000 kVA also common) [7]
103	2 kA	10.5 kV secondary side from an electrical substation with primary 115 kV; 63 MVA [8]
	9.3 kA	2.7V, Ultracapacitor short circuit current [9]
104	25 kA	Lorentz force can crusher pinch [10]
	30 kA	Typical lightning strike
105	100 kA	Low range of Birkeland current that creates Earth's aurorae
	140 kA	"Sq" current of one daytime vortex within the ionospheric dynamo region
	180 kA	Typical current used in electric arc furnace for ferroalloys [11]
106	1 MA	High range of Birkeland current
	5 MA	Flux tube between Jupiter and Io (moon) [12]
	26 MA	Sandia National Laboratories, Z machine approximate firing current [13] since 2007
	256 MA	VNIIEF laboratories (Russia) current produced in explosive flux compression generator
109	3 GA	Total current in the Sun's heliospheric current sheet
1018	3 EA	Current of 2kpc segment of 50kpc-long radio jet of the Seyfert galaxy 3C 303 [14]

References

1. pupman.com - Tesla coils safety information, 2003-03-30
2. repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu - TV and Monitor CRT (Picture Tube) Information Archived 2013-03-11 at the Wayback Machine , 2008-09-24
3. debmar.com - Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (T.E.N.S.) unit for pain management and replacement electrodes., read 2012-06-11
4. capturedlightning.org - Modeled and Actual Voltage and Current Waveforms within aTesla Coil, 1998-12-22
5. optogan.com - OCC-N010S01A - XXXX, Optogan X10 High Power COB Family, read 2012-06-14
6. West Country Welding Supplies
7. pgvcl.com - Technical Specification for 200-500 kVA Archived 2012-06-17 at the Wayback Machine , page 3
8. btbplaza.com - BtB Plaza - The Transformer Marketplace - SIEMENS 63 MVA, 115/10.5 kV GSU ^{[ permanent dead link ]}, read 2012-06-20
9. "Datasheet for the capacitor" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-06. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
10. powerlabs.org - The PowerLabs Solid State Can Crusher!, 2002
11. "High-current industrial transformers", Siemens AG, accessed 2017-11-23
12. "Homepage | Department of Physics and Astronomy".
13. "About Z". Sandia National Laboratories. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
14. Kronberg, Philipp P.; Lovelace, Richard V. E.; Lapenta, Giovanni; Colgate, Stirling A. (2011). "MEASUREMENT OF THE ELECTRIC CURRENT IN a KPC-SCALE JET". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (1): L15. arXiv: 1106.1397 . Bibcode:2011ApJ...741L..15K. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/741/1/L15. S2CID   118620169.