Question: What is the standard way to measure a current of about 10,000 A? DC clamp meters seem to have only scales up to 2,000 A.

**Edit**

Some background of this question: 

I am a high school physics teacher and I am trying to improve some classical experiments using high currents from ultra-capacitor discharge. 

In particular I am looking for a good way to measure the discharge current of a ultra capacitor for very short times like in this "jumping ring" experiment:

[A safe and effective modification of Thomson’s jumping ring experiment](http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~moloney/Ph425/0143-0807_33_6_1625JumpingRing.pdf)

The second motivation for this question was just because I just want to know it out of curiosity for my background knowledge of what is the usual way to measure such high currents today.

Answer: 
My company has provided current meters up to 15kA for plating baths. They just used [shunts](http://www.lumel.com.pl/en/our_offer/measuring_instruments/boczniki_pomiarowe/art34,b4-shunts-1a-15ka-nominal-current-50mv-voltage-drops.html) (50mV or 60mV = 15kA IIRC). 

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RYQgb.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RYQgb.jpg)

If your current has much high frequency component you may need to take special precautions- it doesn't take much inductance to cause problems. 

Also note that 10kA \* 50mV drop is 500W so they will dissipate a fair bit of power at full current. 

Both the above problems can be reduced or avoided by using the LEM sensors suggested by JohnD (+1), however the cost may be higher in cases where a relatively steady DC current is to be measured.
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> What is the standard way to measure a current of about 10,000 A? DC clamp meters seem to have only scales up to 2,000 A.
> 
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> 

your discharge current probably wouldn't get anywhere near that kind of current.

with that said, a current transformer would be my way of going it: simple, effective, and cheap: just need a piece of wire looping around the conductor.

having it calibrated however can be tricky.

short of that, try some hall effect sensors -> keeping it away from the conductor. i'm not sure about their dynamic characteristics - something likely important here.

another idea: assuming that you aren't going to sustain 10,000amp, you are likely to use skinny wires here. with that, you can just pick up two points and measure the voltage drop over the two points. self-heating wouldn't be a problem unless the current is sustained over a period of time.

basically the conductor itself is a sampling resistor.

it wouldn't work if you are using beefy copper bars as the conduit.