However, the values you will most frequently encounter in biology are kilo- (1000x the base unit), milli- (0.001x base), micro- (0.000001x base) and nano- (0.000000001x base). The prefixes used in the metric system and their values are defined in Table 1 below. In biology, it is often useful to talk about a length of DNA in base pairs, and large lengths of DNA may be referred to in kilobases (kb) or megabases (Mb). Powers of Ten Exa (E) Peta (P) Tera (T) Giga (G) Mega (M) Kilo (k) Hekto (h) Deka (da) 1018 1015 1012 109 106 103 102 101 Deci (d) Centi (c) Milli (m) Micro ( ) Nano (n) Pico (p) Femto (f) Atto (a) 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 6 10 9 10 12 10 15 10 18 Powers of Ten Exa (E) Peta (P) Tera (T) Giga (G) Mega (M) Kilo (k) Hekto (h) Deka (da) 1018 1015 1012 109. For example, your computer’s hard drive may be able to store 100 gigabytes (GB) of information – this is equal to 100,000,000 bytes. In fact, you will find that a number of fields use the SI prefixes to modify units not traditionally considered metric units. If we were to create our own unit called the “harvard”, a “kiloharvard” would be equal to 1000 harvards. Likewise, a kilometer is equal to 1000 meters, while a micrometer is equal to 0.000001 m. For example, a kilogram is equal to 1000 grams, while a microgram is equal to 0.000001 g. Most but not all units vary from the base unit by multiples of 1000 or 1/1000.Ĭommonly used prefixes are listed in Table 1. By definition, the number one is a power (the zeroth power) of ten. Smaller and larger units are created by adding prefixes to these units to indicate the order of magnitude. What is a power of 10 (Definition) A power of 10 is any number that is multiple of 10, which allows writing to be finite decimal. For example, milli- differs from micro- by a factor of 1000 or fermto- differs from nano- by a factor of 109 or 1000 million. In mathematics, a power of ten is any of the integer powers of the number ten in other words, ten multiplied by itself a certain number of times. In biology, the most commonly encountered measurements are the meter (which measures length or distance), the gram (weight), the liter (volume), and the mole (amount). The metric system is based on a limited set of base units. The metric system is also referred to as the International System of Units or SI, an abbreviation of its French name, Le Système International d’Unités. Most of the units used in science are metric units. Life Sciences Cyberbridge The Metric System
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