Electrical measurements

Electrical measurements are the methods, devices and calculations used to measure electrical quantities. Measurement of electrical quantities may be done to measure electrical parameters of a system. Using transducers, physical properties such as temperature, pressure, flow, force, and many others can be converted into electrical signals, which can then be conveniently measured and recorded. High-precision laboratory measurements of electrical quantities are used in experiments to determine fundamental physical properties such as the charge of the electron or the speed of light, and in the definition of the units for electrical measurements, with precision in some cases on the order of a few parts per million. Less precise measurements are required every day in industrial practice. Electrical measurements are a branch of the science of metrology.

Measurable independent and semi-independent electrical quantities comprise:

Voltage
Electric current
Electrical resistance and electrical conductance
Electrical reactance and susceptance
Magnetic flux
Electrical charge by the means of electrometer
Partial discharge measurement
Magnetic field by the means of Hall sensor
Electric field
Electrical power by the means of electricity meter
S-matrix by the means of network analyzer (electrical)
Electrical power spectrum by the means of spectrum analyzer

Measurable dependent electrical quantities comprise:

Inductance
Capacitance
Electrical impedance defined as vector sum of electrical resistance and electrical reactance
Electrical admittance, the reciprocal of electrical impedance
Phase between current and voltage and related power factor
Electrical spectral density
Electrical phase noise
Electrical amplitude noise
Transconductance
Transimpedance
Electrical power gain
Voltage gain
Current gain
Frequency
Propagation delay

References

Electrical measurement safety manual (Microsoft PowerPoint file)
Early electrical measurement equipment

References

Further reading