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Define prefixes. Interconvert the prefixes and their symbols to indicate multiples and sub-multiples for both bases and derived units?
Prefixes:
Prefixes are the words or letters added before Si units such as kilo, mega, giga and milli.
SI units have the advantage that their multiples and sub-multiples can be expressed in terms of prefixes. These prefixes are given in Table.
Some Prefixes
Prefix | Symbol | Multiplier |
exa | E | 1018 |
peta | P | 1015 |
tera | T | 1012 |
giga | G | 109 |
mega | M | 106 |
Kilo | K | 103 |
hecto | h | 102 |
deca | da | 101 |
deci | d | 10-1 |
centi | c | 10-2 |
milli | m | 10-3 |
micro | M | 10-6 |
nano | n | 10-9 |
Pico | P | 10-12 |
femto | f | 10-15 |
atto | a | 10-18 |
Advantages of prefixes:
The prefixes are useful to express very large or small quantities. For example, divide 20,000 g by 1000 to express it into kilogram, since kilo represents 103 or 1000.
Thus 20,000g = 20,000 ÷ 1,000Kg = 20kg
or 20,000 g = 20 x 10g = 20kg
Note:
Double prefixes are not used. For example, no prefix is used with kilogram since it already contains the prefix kilo.
Prefixes given in Table are used with both types of base and derived units.
Multiples and sub-multiples of length:
1km | 103m |
1cm | 102m |
1mm | 10-3m |
1µm | 10-6m |
1nm | 10-9m |