Common Metric Prefixes

Common Metric Prefixes

You are responsible for KNOWING the giga- to nano- prefixes. Always use dimensional analysis to convert between quantities.

Metric or SI prefixes
Prefix / symbol / x 10___ / Example
yotta / Y / 24 / 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 / 1 yottameter is the distance to the nearest super cluster of galaxies
zetta / Z / 21 / 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 / After 1 zettasecond there will be no stars in our universe
exa / E / 18 / 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 / The atmosphere of the Earth is 5 exagrams
peta / P / 15 / 1,000,000,000,000,000 / AT&T transfers about 30 petabytes of data per day
tera / T / 12 / 1,000,000,000,000 / 1.4 Tm is the average distance from the Sun to Saturn
giga / G / 9 / 1,000,000,000 / 2.1 Gs is the average human life expectancy
mega / M / 6 / 1,000,000 / 1 Megagram is one metric ton
kilo / k / 3 / 1,000 / Bill Gates though no one would ever need more than 640 KB; no a single song is 5X that
hecto / h / 2 / 100 / 1 hm is the size of a football field
deca / da / 1 / 10 / An adult mouse is about 2 decagrams
base / 0 / 1 / ANY BASE UNIT: meters, seconds, grams, Pascals, Newtons, ANYTHING
deci / d / -1 / 0.1 / 1 decisecond = the blink of an eye
centi / c / -2 / 0.01 / 2 centigram = mass of a fly
milli / m / -3 / 0.001 / 5 millimeters = length of a large red ant
micro / μ / -6 / 0.000001 / 3.6 micrograms = mass of a human ovum
nano / n / -9 / 0.000000001 / 6 nanometers = width of cellular membrane
pico / p / -12 / 0.000000000001 / 330 picoseconds = how long a 3.0 GHz computer needs to add two numbers; >30 billion per second
femto / f / -15 / 0.000000000000001 / 1 femtogram = mass of HIV-1 virus
atto / a / -18 / 0.000000000000000001 / 12 attoseconds = shortest measured period of time
zepto / z / -21 / 0.000000000000000000001 / 7 zeptometers = cross-sectional area of neutrino
yocto / y / -24 / 0.000000000000000000000001 / 1.6 yoctograms = mass of the proton