What is a Microampere?

Microampere (μA) is a unit of electrical current. It is defined as one millionth of an ampere (1 μA = 0.001 A).

In practical terms, microampere is a very small amount of current, typically used to describe the current flowing through very thin wires or in low-power electronic circuits. For example, a typical microampere current might be used to power a small LED or a low-power sensor.

To put this into perspective, a human hair is about 100 micrometers (μm) thick, and a red blood cell is about 8 micrometers (μm) in diameter. So, a microampere is equivalent to about 1/100th of the current that would flow through a human hair, or about 1/1000th of the current that would flow through a red blood cell.

In scientific notation, microampere can be written as μA, where the Greek letter mu (μ) represents the symbol for micro, meaning one millionth.