Magnetic flux units

This page lists examples of magnetic induction B in teslas and gauss produced by various sources, grouped by orders of magnitude, with each group covering three orders of magnitude, or a factor of one thousand.

Note:

  • Traditionally, magnetizing field H, is measured in amperes per meter. Magnetic induction B (also known as magnetic flux density) has the SI unit tesla [T or Wb/m2].[1] One tesla is equal to 104 gauss.
  • Magnetic field drops off as the cube of the distance from a dipole source. These examples attempt to make the measuring point clear, usually the surface of the item mentioned.
List of orders of magnitude for magnetic fields
Factor (tesla) SI prefix Value (SI units) Value (cgs units) Item
10−18 attotesla 5 aT 50 fG SQUID magnetometers on Gravity Probe B gyroscopes measure fields at this level over several days of averaged measurements[2]
10−15 femtotesla 2 fT 20 pG SQUID magnetometers on Gravity Probe B gyros measure fields at this level in about one second
10−12 picotesla 100 fT to 1 pT 1 nG to 10 nG human brain magnetic field
10−11 10 pT 100 nG In September 2006, NASA found "potholes" in the magnetic field in the heliosheath around our solar system that are 10 picoteslas as reported by Voyager 1[3]
10−9 nanotesla 100 pT to 10 nT 1 µG to 100 µG magnetic field strength in the heliosphere
10−6 microtesla 24 µT 240 mG strength of magnetic tape near tape head
10−5   31 µT 310 mG strength of Earth's magnetic field at 0° latitude (on the equator)
58 µT 580 mG strength of Earth's magnetic field at 50° latitude
10−3 millitesla 0.5 mT 5 G the suggested exposure limit for cardiac pacemakers by American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)
5 mT 50 G the strength of a typical [2]
10−1   0.15 T 1.5 kG the magnetic field strength of a sunspot
100 tesla 1 T to 2.4 T 10 kG to 24 kG coil gap of a typical loudspeaker magnet.[4]
1 T to 2 T 10 kG to 20 kG inside the core of a modern 60 Hz power transformer[5][6]
1.25 T 12.5 kG strength of a modern neodymium–iron–boron (Nd2Fe14B) rare earth magnet. A coin-sized neodymium magnet can lift more than 9 kg, pinch skin and erase credit cards.[7]
1.5 T to 3 T 15 kG to 30 kG strength of medical magnetic resonance imaging systems in practice, experimentally up to 8 T[8][9]
9.4 T 94 kG Modern high resolution research magnetic resonance imaging system
101   11.7 T 117 kG field strength of a 500 MHz NMR spectrometer
16 T 160 kG strength used to levitate a frog[10]
23.5 T 235 kG field strength of a 1 GHz NMR spectrometer[11]
36.2 T 362 kG strongest continuous magnetic field produced by non-superconductive resistive magnet.[12]
45 T 450 kG strongest continuous magnetic field yet produced in a laboratory (Florida State University's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, USA).[13]
102   100.75 T 1 MG strongest (pulsed) magnetic field yet obtained non-destructively in a laboratory (National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA)[14]
730 T 7.3 MG strongest pulsed magnetic field yet obtained in a laboratory, destroying the used equipment, but not the laboratory itself (Institute for Solid State Physics, Tokyo)
103 kilotesla 2.8 kT 28 MG strongest (pulsed) magnetic field ever obtained (with explosives) in a laboratory (VNIIEF in Sarov, Russia, 1998)[15]
106 megatesla 1 MT to 100 MT 10 GG to 1 TG strength of a neutron star
109 gigatesla 100 MT to 100 GT 1 TG to 1 PG strength of a magnetar

References

Quantity
See also