Article for 2010 Sep 29
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The metric prefixes are added to units of measurement to multiply them by powers of ten.
The metric prefixes are
| Prefix | Symbol | Multiplies by | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yocto | y | 10-24 | 0·000000000000000000000001 |
| zepto | z | 10-21 | 0·000000000000000000001 |
| atto | a | 10-18 | 0·000000000000000001 |
| femto | f | 10-15 | 0·000000000000001 |
| pico | p | 10-12 | 0·000000000001 |
| nano | n | 10-9 | 0·000000001 |
| micro | μ | 10-6 | 0·000001 |
| milli | m | 10-3 | 0·001 |
| centi | c | 10-2 | 0·01 |
| deci | d | 10-1 | 0·1 |
| 100 | 1 | ||
| deca | da | 101 | 10 |
| hecto | h | 102 | 100 |
| kilo | k | 103 | 1000 |
| mega | M | 106 | 1,000,000 |
| giga | G | 109 | 1,000,000,000 |
| tera | T | 1012 | 1,000,000,000,000 |
| peta | P | 1015 | 1,000,000,000,000,000 |
| exa | E | 1018 | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 |
| zetta | Z | 1021 | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 |
| yotta | Y | 1024 | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 |
For example, a kilometre is a thousand metres, a gigawatt is a billion watts, a millilitre is a thousandth of a litre, and an attosecond is one thousand-billion-billionth of a second.
I’ve invented some units, based on the metric prefixes.
The ntic is defined so that one gigantic is the average mass of a blue whale in 2010.
The nnosaurus rex is one 1,000,000,000,000th of a terannosaurus rex. A terannosaurus rex is equal to the efficiency of a Tyrannosaurus rex hunting.
The mination is a unit of work. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 minations is one examination.
A mal-function is ten decimal-functions.
Pedes are used to measure invertebrates. One pede is 1,000 millipedes and 100 centipedes.
An onaire is a group of 1,000 millionaires.
A whale is a thousandth of a kilo whale (to be read “killer whale”).
A scope is a group of a million microscopes.
A band is a group of a thousand Labour politicians.
(Is that more than Labour actually have?)