# 1.9 Physical quantities and units  (Page 4/18)

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Metric prefixes for powers of 10 and their symbols
Prefix Symbol Value See Appendix A for a discussion of powers of 10. Example (some are approximate)
exa E ${\text{10}}^{\text{18}}$ exameter Em distance light travels in a century
peta P ${\text{10}}^{\text{15}}$ petasecond Ps 30 million years
tera T ${\text{10}}^{\text{12}}$ terawatt TW powerful laser output
giga G ${\text{10}}^{9}$ gigahertz GHz a microwave frequency
mega M ${\text{10}}^{6}$ megacurie MCi high radioactivity
kilo k ${\text{10}}^{3}$ kilometer km about 6/10 mile
hecto h ${\text{10}}^{2}$ hectoliter hL 26 gallons
deka da ${\text{10}}^{1}$ dekagram dag teaspoon of butter
${\text{10}}^{0}$ (=1)
deci d ${\text{10}}^{-1}$ deciliter dL less than half a soda
centi c ${\text{10}}^{-2}$ centimeter cm fingertip thickness
milli m ${\text{10}}^{-3}$ millimeter mm flea at its shoulders
micro µ ${\text{10}}^{-6}$ micrometer µm detail in microscope
nano n ${\text{10}}^{-9}$ nanogram ng small speck of dust
pico p ${\text{10}}^{-\text{12}}$ picofarad pF small capacitor in radio
femto f ${\text{10}}^{-\text{15}}$ femtometer fm size of a proton
atto a ${\text{10}}^{-\text{18}}$ attosecond as time light crosses an atom

## Known ranges of length, mass, and time

The vastness of the universe and the breadth over which physics applies are illustrated by the wide range of examples of known lengths, masses, and times in [link] . Examination of this table will give you some feeling for the range of possible topics and numerical values. (See [link] and [link] .)

## Unit conversion and dimensional analysis

It is often necessary to convert from one type of unit to another. For example, if you are reading a European cookbook, some quantities may be expressed in units of liters and you need to convert them to cups. Or, perhaps you are reading walking directions from one location to another and you are interested in how many miles you will be walking. In this case, you will need to convert units of feet to miles.

Let us consider a simple example of how to convert units. Let us say that we want to convert 80 meters (m) to kilometers (km).

The first thing to do is to list the units that you have and the units that you want to convert to. In this case, we have units in meters and we want to convert to kilometers .

Next, we need to determine a conversion factor    relating meters to kilometers. A conversion factor is a ratio expressing how many of one unit are equal to another unit. For example, there are 12 inches in 1 foot, 100 centimeters in 1 meter, 60 seconds in 1 minute, and so on. In this case, we know that there are 1,000 meters in 1 kilometer.

Now we can set up our unit conversion. We will write the units that we have and then multiply them by the conversion factor so that the units cancel out, as shown:

$80\overline{)\text{m}}×\frac{\text{1 km}}{1000\overline{)\text{m}}}=0\text{.080 km.}$

Note that the unwanted m unit cancels, leaving only the desired km unit. You can use this method to convert between any types of unit.

what does nano mean?
nano basically means 10^(-9). nanometer is a unit to measure length.
Bharti
do you think it's worthwhile in the long term to study the effects and possibilities of nanotechnology on viral treatment?
absolutely yes
Daniel
how to know photocatalytic properties of tio2 nanoparticles...what to do now
it is a goid question and i want to know the answer as well
Maciej
Abigail
for teaching engĺish at school how nano technology help us
Anassong
Do somebody tell me a best nano engineering book for beginners?
what is fullerene does it is used to make bukky balls
are you nano engineer ?
s.
fullerene is a bucky ball aka Carbon 60 molecule. It was name by the architect Fuller. He design the geodesic dome. it resembles a soccer ball.
Tarell
what is the actual application of fullerenes nowadays?
Damian
That is a great question Damian. best way to answer that question is to Google it. there are hundreds of applications for buck minister fullerenes, from medical to aerospace. you can also find plenty of research papers that will give you great detail on the potential applications of fullerenes.
Tarell
what is the Synthesis, properties,and applications of carbon nano chemistry
Mostly, they use nano carbon for electronics and for materials to be strengthened.
Virgil
is Bucky paper clear?
CYNTHIA
so some one know about replacing silicon atom with phosphorous in semiconductors device?
Yeah, it is a pain to say the least. You basically have to heat the substarte up to around 1000 degrees celcius then pass phosphene gas over top of it, which is explosive and toxic by the way, under very low pressure.
Harper
Do you know which machine is used to that process?
s.
how to fabricate graphene ink ?
for screen printed electrodes ?
SUYASH
What is lattice structure?
of graphene you mean?
Ebrahim
or in general
Ebrahim
in general
s.
Graphene has a hexagonal structure
tahir
On having this app for quite a bit time, Haven't realised there's a chat room in it.
Cied
what is biological synthesis of nanoparticles
what's the easiest and fastest way to the synthesize AgNP?
China
Cied
types of nano material
I start with an easy one. carbon nanotubes woven into a long filament like a string
Porter
many many of nanotubes
Porter
what is the k.e before it land
Yasmin
what is the function of carbon nanotubes?
Cesar
I'm interested in nanotube
Uday
what is nanomaterials​ and their applications of sensors.
what is nano technology
what is system testing?
preparation of nanomaterial
how did you get the value of 2000N.What calculations are needed to arrive at it
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