Definition:CGS/Energy/Erg
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Definition
The erg is the CGS unit of energy:
It is defined as being:
- the energy transferred to (or work done on) a body when a force of $1$ dyne acts on that body in the direction of the force's motion through a distance of $1$ centimetre.
Thus:
- $1 \, \mathrm {erg} = 1 \, \mathrm {dyn} \, \mathrm {cm}$
Conversion Factors
\(\ds \) | \(\) | \(\ds 1\) | erg | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds 10^{-7}\) | joules |
Symbol
- $\mathrm {erg}$
The symbol for the erg is $\mathrm {erg}$.
The $\LaTeX$ code for \(\mathrm {erg}\) is \mathrm {erg}
.
Base Units
The CGS base units of the erg are:
- $1 \ \mathrm {erg} = 1 \ \mathrm g \ \mathrm {cm}^2 \ \mathrm s^{-2}$
where:
- $\mathrm g$ denotes grams
- $\mathrm {cm}$ denotes centimetres
- $\mathrm s$ denotes seconds (of time).
Sources
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): erg
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): erg