The statvolt is a unit of voltage and electrical potential used in the CGS-ESU and gaussian systems of units.
[2][b] The statvolt is also defined in the CGS system as 1 erg per statcoulomb.
[2] It is a useful unit for electromagnetism because, in vacuum, an electric field of one statvolt per centimetre has the same energy density as a magnetic field of one gauss.
Likewise, a plane wave propagating in vacuum has perpendicular electric and magnetic fields such that for every gauss of magnetic field intensity there is one statvolt/cm of electric field intensity.
[2] In the CGS-EMU system, the unit of voltage is the abvolt.