# 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.

who was the first nanotechnologist
k
Veysel
technologist's thinker father is Richard Feynman but the literature first user scientist Nario Tagunichi.
Veysel
Norio Taniguchi
puvananathan
Interesting
Andr
I need help
Richard
@Richard Is that Richard Feynman
Vince
anyone have book of Abdel Salam Hamdy Makhlouf book in pdf Fundamentals of Nanoparticles: Classifications, Synthesis
what happen with The nano material on The deep space.?
It could change the whole space science.
puvananathan
the characteristics of nano materials can be studied by solving which equation?
sibaram
synthesis of nano materials by chemical reaction taking place in aqueous solvents under high temperature and pressure is call?
sibaram
hydrothermal synthesis
ISHFAQ
how can chip be made from sand
is this allso about nanoscale material
Almas
are nano particles real
yeah
Joseph
Hello, if I study Physics teacher in bachelor, can I study Nanotechnology in master?
no can't
Lohitha
where is the latest information on a no technology how can I find it
William
currently
William
where we get a research paper on Nano chemistry....?
nanopartical of organic/inorganic / physical chemistry , pdf / thesis / review
Ali
what are the products of Nano chemistry?
There are lots of products of nano chemistry... Like nano coatings.....carbon fiber.. And lots of others..
learn
Even nanotechnology is pretty much all about chemistry... Its the chemistry on quantum or atomic level
learn
da
no nanotechnology is also a part of physics and maths it requires angle formulas and some pressure regarding concepts
Bhagvanji
hey
Giriraj
Preparation and Applications of Nanomaterial for Drug Delivery
revolt
da
Application of nanotechnology in medicine
has a lot of application modern world
Kamaluddeen
yes
narayan
what is variations in raman spectra for nanomaterials
ya I also want to know the raman spectra
Bhagvanji
I only see partial conversation and what's the question here!
what about nanotechnology for water purification
please someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think one can use nanoparticles, specially silver nanoparticles for water treatment.
Damian
yes that's correct
Professor
I think
Professor
Nasa has use it in the 60's, copper as water purification in the moon travel.
Alexandre
nanocopper obvius
Alexandre
what is the stm
is there industrial application of fullrenes. What is the method to prepare fullrene on large scale.?
Rafiq
industrial application...? mmm I think on the medical side as drug carrier, but you should go deeper on your research, I may be wrong
Damian
STM - Scanning Tunneling Microscope.
puvananathan
how did you get the value of 2000N.What calculations are needed to arrive at it
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