The abampere (abA), also called the biot (Bi) after Jean-Baptiste Biot, is the derived electromagnetic unit of electric current in the emu-cgs system of units (electromagnetic cgs).
One abampere corresponds to ten amperes in the SI system of units.
An abampere of current in a circular path of one centimeter radius produces a magnetic field of 2π oersteds at the center of the circle.
The name abampere was introduced by Kennelly in 1903 as a short name for the long name (absolute) electromagnetic cgs unit of current that was in use since the adoption of the cgs system in 1875.
[3] The abampere was coherent with the emu-cgs system, in contrast to the ampere, the practical unit of current that had been adopted too in 1875.