Electric constant

The electric constant (also: vacuum permittivity), designated ε₀, is a physical constant appearing in equations relating electrical charge to mechanical quantities, for example in Coulomb's law. In scalar form, Coulomb's law can be given as:

$F={\frac {1}{4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}}\ {\frac {|q||Q|}{r^{2}}}$,

where F is the magnitude of the force between two point charges q and Q, separated by a distance r.

Its value is given by

$\varepsilon _{0}={\frac {1}{\mu _{0}c^{2}}}$,

where c is the speed of light in vacuum and μ₀ is the magnetic constant. In the SI system of units, c is defined and μ₀ is a consequence of the definition of the ampere. Consequently, ε₀ is exact and expressed up to ten digits by:

$\varepsilon _{0}=8.854\ 187\ 817...10^{-12}$ F / m;

${\frac {1}{4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}}=8.987\ 551\ 787...10^{9}$ N m²/C².

Terminology

Historically, the physical constant ε₀ has had different names. One of these was dielectric constant of vacuum. Although still in use, "dielectric constant" is now deemed obsolete. In the 1987 IUPAP Red book this constant was called permittivity of vacuum. Currently the nomenclature is electric constant. The vacuum permittivity ε = ε_r ε₀ is equal to the electric constant ε₀.