If reading on a mobile phone, you may wish to turn it round 90 degrees to accommodate the full table.
| Prefix | Prefix Name | Scaling | Example | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p | pico | 1/1,000,000,000,000 | 0.000000000001 | 1pF | 1 pico farad |
| n | nano | 1/1,000,000,000 | 0.000000001 | 1nF | 1 nano farad |
| u | micro | 1/1,000,000 | 0.000001 | 1uF | 1 micro farad |
| m | milli | 1/1,000 | 0.001 | 1mA | 1 milli amp |
| 1 | |||||
| k | kilo | 1000 | 1k |
1 kilo ohms | |
| M | Mega | 1,000,000 | 1M |
1 mega ohms | |
| G | Giga | 1,000,000,000 | 1GHz | 1 giga hertz | |
As in the ILC for the ALC you need to be able to convert between one prefix and another. NOTE: that the interval between the changes is 1,000 or 103 whichever way you are going !!!
Some students find it difficult to convert down the scale from larger to smaller numbers when it is less than 1 -- perhaps the following will help.
| 1 | Unit | 1 = 1 |
| 0.001 | milli | 1000 milli = 1 |
| 0.000001 | micro | 1000 micro = 1 milli |
| 0.000000001 | nano | 1000 nano = 1 micro |
| 0.000000000001 | pico | 1000 pico = 1 nano |
| Try to see the pattern in the numbers and write out how to
convert from one to another in the way you can understand.
Try with the example below. To start with always relate the number to 1 |
||
| Example:
Convert 0.001 micro to nano farads ? |
So relative to 1 farad we have from above :-
1 micro farad = 0.000001 Thus relative to 1 farad 0.001 micro farads = 0.00000001 we have added the extra 3 zeros one for the decimal point and the other two from the 001 We now have 8 zeros from above we know that relative to 1 farad that 1 nano farad = 0.000000001 that is 8 zeros so 0.001 micro farads = 1 nano farads. |
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The origin of some of the text on this page is from the RSGB with additions by the web master