Somethings in the Universe are huge – really huge. Like the milky way that is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 m across. And some things are small – really really small, like a grain of salt that is 0.0005 m. So here’s Math stepping in to help us talk about the huge and the tiny.
Firstly, we keep the meter (m) as the basic unit. When something is, say 10000 times the meter, we say it’s 10^5 times the meter. If something is 1/1000000 times a meter we write it is 10^{-6}. Basically we count the zeroes! And then there are the names. For example, 10^{-9} is nano. So when we hear of someone working on nanotechnologies, they are working on stuff that are 1/1000000000 of a meter.
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Take a look at the infographic to know the names for big and small things of Units of Measurement. This can get you thinking on trying to find how really huge or tiny different things are.
Biggest Units of Measurement List
- Deka -10
- Hecto – 10^2
- Kilo – 10^3
- Mega – 10^6
- Giga – 10^9
- Tera – 10^{12}
- Peta – 10^{15}
- Exa – 10^{18}
- Zetta – 10^{21}
- Yotta – 10^{24}
Smallest Units of Measurement
- Deci – 10^{-1}
- Centi – 10^{-2}
- Milli – 10^{-3}
- Micro – 10^{-6}
- Nano – 10^{-9}
- Pico – 10^{-12}
- Femto – 10^{-15}
- Atto – 10^{-18}
- Zepto – 10^{-21}
- Yotta – 10^{-24}
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