Ronnagrams and Quettametres
November 28 , 2022
720 days
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- The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) adopted a new prefix to express tiny or immense orders of magnitude,
- This is the first time in more than three decades that the International System (SI) established in 1960.
- The well-known prefixes like kilo and milli are joined by ronna and quetta for the largest numbers – and ronto and quecto for the smallest.
- Convention dictates that the larger prefixes end in an A, and the smaller ones in an O.
- The new prefixes can simplify the way we talk about some fairly large objects.
- The Earth weighs about six ronagrams, which is a six followed by 27 zeros.
- Jupiter, about two quettagrams, which is a two, followed by 30 zeros.
- The last time was in 1991 when chemists wanting to express massive molecular amounts spurred the addition of Zetta and Yotta.
- A yottameter is a one followed by 24 zeros.
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