About this converter
Electric charge is the fundamental property of matter that causes electromagnetic interactions. The SI unit is the coulomb (C), defined as the charge transferred by 1 ampere in 1 second. One coulomb equals approximately 6.242 × 10¹⁸ elementary charges — the charge carried by a single proton or electron.
Battery engineers, electrochemists, and semiconductor physicists convert between charge units regularly. EV battery designers calculate pack capacity in ampere-hours (Ah), electroplating process engineers apply Faraday's laws in coulombs, and quantum electronics researchers work with picocoulombs and elementary charges when characterizing single-electron devices.
How to Use This Converter
- Enter the charge value in the Value field.
- Select the source unit from the From dropdown.
- Select the target unit from the To dropdown.
- The result and conversion formula update instantly.
- Use Swap to reverse the conversion in one click.
Units Covered
| Unit | Symbol | Common Use |
|---|---|---|
| Coulomb | C | SI unit; used in capacitor specifications and electrostatic calculations. |
| Megacoulomb | MC | Large-scale charge storage and lightning physics research. |
| Kilocoulomb | kC | Industrial battery charging and electroplating bath calculations. |
| Millicoulomb | mC | Capacitor charge, ESD testing, and small-scale electroplating. |
| Microcoulomb | µC | Ceramic and film capacitor charge at typical circuit voltages. |
| Nanocoulomb | nC | Sensor signals, MEMS devices, and high-voltage spark measurements. |
| Picocoulomb | pC | RF capacitor charge and nuclear radiation detector pulse charge. |
| Abcoulomb | abC | CGS electromagnetic unit; 1 abC = 10 C. Found in older EM texts. |
| EMU of charge | EMU | Same as abcoulomb in the CGS-EM system. |
| Statcoulomb | stC | CGS electrostatic unit; 1 stC ≈ 3.336 × 10⁻¹⁰ C. |
| ESU of charge | ESU | Same as statcoulomb in the CGS-ES system. |
| Franklin | Fr | Identical to statcoulomb; named after Benjamin Franklin. |
| Ampere-hour | Ah | Battery capacity specification; 1 Ah = 3600 C. |
| Ampere-minute | A·min | Short charge intervals in electrochemistry experiments. |
| Ampere-second | A·s | Equivalent to coulomb; used in pulse power calculations. |
| Faraday | F (chem) | Electrochemistry; 1 F = 96,485 C deposits 1 mole of monovalent ions. |
| Elementary charge | e | Quantum electronics; 1 e = 1.602 × 10⁻¹⁹ C. |
How to Convert Coulombs to Ampere-hours
Coulombs to ampere-hours
For example, 54000 C / 3600 = 15 Ah — the capacity of a small lithium-ion pack.
Ampere-hours to coulombs
For example, 100 Ah × 3600 = 360,000 C — a typical EV battery module capacity.
When You Need to Convert Charge
EV and energy storage engineers specify battery capacity in ampere-hours. A 60 kWh battery at 400 V holds 150 Ah, or 540,000 C. Converting capacity to coulombs is required when calculating charging time: time (s) = Q(C) / I(A). At a 50 A charge rate, 540,000 C takes 10,800 s — exactly 3 hours.
Electrochemists use Faraday's first law: mass deposited is proportional to charge in coulombs. Depositing 1 mole of copper (63.5 g) from a CuSO₄ bath requires 2 × 96,485 C = 192,970 C (two electrons per Cu²⁺ ion). Converting bath current and time to total coulombs allows precise plating thickness control in PCB and semiconductor manufacturing.
Particle physicists and detector engineers work with picocoulombs and nanocoulombs. A silicon strip detector struck by a minimum-ionizing particle generates about 24,000 electron charges — roughly 3.8 fC. Converting from elementary charges to picocoulombs to ADC input ranges is standard in radiation detector front-end electronics design.