The 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures last Friday introduced four new prefixes to the International System of Units, or metric system: ronna (27 zeroes after the first digit) and quetta (30 zeroes), which are now at the top of the measurement range, and ronto (27 zeroes after the decimal point) and quecto (30 zeroes), which are now at the bottom.
“Most people are familiar with prefixes like milli- as in milligram. But these are prefixes for the biggest and smallest levels ever measured,” Dr Richard Brown, head of Metrology at the U.K.’s National Physical Laboratory who proposed the four new prefixes, told The Associated Press.
“In the last 30 years, the datasphere has increased exponentially, and data scientists have realized they will no longer have words to describe the levels of storage,” he explained. Brown said the new terms also make it easier to describe things scientists already know about.
Yotta (24 zeroes) was the largest prefix in the metric system before the new additions. Now, the Earth's mass can be said to be about 6 ronnagrams rather than 6,000 yottagrams. The sun can be said to be about 2,000 quettagrams rather than 2,000,000,000 yottagrams.
The prefixes for small numbers (ronto and quecto) will be useful for quantum science and particle physics. An electron's mass can be said to be about 1 rontogram rather than 0.001 yoctograms (the smallest prefix before the new additions).
布朗建議的這4個詞頭的單位,即時生效。這也是1991年以來,國際單位制首次新增內(nèi)容。
The new terms take effect immediately, marking the first time since 1991 that any new additions have been made.
He explained how the new names were not chosen at random: The first letter of the new prefixes had to be one not used in other prefixes and units.“There were only the letters ‘r’ and ‘q’ that weren’t already taken. Following that, there’s a precedent that they sound similar to Greek letters and that big number prefixes end with an ‘a’ and smaller numbers with an ‘o,’” he added.
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