Magnetic Field Converter

Divide gauss by 10,000 to get tesla, or equivalently, 1 tesla equals 10,000 gauss. A typical refrigerator magnet is about 50 gauss (5 mT), while Earth's magnetic field at the surface is about 0.25-0.65 gauss (25-65 µT).

Standard clinical MRI machines operate at 1.5T or 3T. Research MRI scanners reach 7T or even 11.7T. For comparison, a neodymium magnet produces about 1.25T at the surface and Earth's field is roughly 0.00005T (50 µT).

Gauss measures magnetic flux density (B-field) while oersted measures magnetic field intensity (H-field). In a vacuum they are numerically equal, but in materials they differ based on permeability. Modern SI units use tesla for B-field and ampere per meter for H-field.

Earth's magnetic field ranges from about 25 µT (0.25 gauss) near the equator to 65 µT (0.65 gauss) near the poles. Geophysicists typically use nanotesla (nT) - Earth's field is about 25,000-65,000 nT. Compass needles respond to this relatively weak field.

Static fields below 8T are generally considered safe for short exposure (MRI patients routinely experience 1.5-3T). The FDA limits clinical MRI to 8T. Strong magnets above 1T can interfere with pacemakers and other implanted devices at distances under 1 meter.