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Glite Dictionary
ampere-hour

ampere-hour

6.3
The amount of electricity a one-ampere current moves in one hour
  • noun
  • /ˈæmˌpɪrˌaʊər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : amperio-hora
  • To ensure my flashlight works during the camping trip, I checked that it had at least 10 ampere-hours of charge.

Examples

  • A standard smartphone battery typically has a capacity of around 3000 ampere-hours.

  • The battery shown here is a sealed gel cell battery rated at 6 volts at 4 ampere-hours.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Batteries are rated in ampere hours (amp-hrs).

    Academic text (1995)

  • The car's battery is rated at 50 ampere-hours, indicating how long it can power the vehicle.

Surface Forms

ampere-hour singular
ampere-hours plural

Morphology

ampere-hour = ampere + hour (transparent) = ampere + hour

The term is a straightforward compound of two unit names meaning current (amperes) multiplied by time (hours), so the resulting unit of electric charge is directly inferable from its parts.

Etymology

Ampere-hour combines ampere, often shortened to amp, a unit for electric 'current' named after the scientist Ampère, and hour, which means 'time'. So an ampere-hour is like running one amp for one hour and it tells you how much electric charge has moved, which is why batteries use this number to show their capacity.