Micro-

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This article describes the SI prefix. For other meanings, see Micro.
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Micro- (µ) is a prefix in the SI and other systems of units denoting a factor of 10−6 (one millionth).[1] Confirmed in 1960, the prefix comes from the Greek μικρός (mikrós), meaning "small".

The symbol for it is the micro sign µ, the Greek letter mu (μ). For historical reasons, these are two different characters in Unicode, which appear slightly different in some fonts. The micro sign is encoded in the "Latin-1 Supplement" range identical to ISO/IEC 8859-1 (since 1985), at U+00B5 (Unicode 1.0, 1991). The Greek letter is encoded in the Greek range at U+03BC.

In circumstances where only the Latin alphabet is available, the prefix is sometimes represented using the letter u as in "um" for µm, or "uV" for µV. In some contexts, such as pharmacy, micrograms are often written mcg. Neither variant is standard.

SI prefixes
1000n 10n Prefix Symbol Since[1] Short scale Long scale Decimal equivalent in SI writing style
10008 1024 yotta- Y 1991 Septillion Quadrillion 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
10007 1021 zetta- Z 1991 Sextillion Trilliard (thousand trillion) 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
10006 1018 exa- E 1975 Quintillion Trillion 1 000 000 000 000 000 000
10005 1015 peta- P 1975 Quadrillion Billiard (thousand billion) 1 000 000 000 000 000
10004 1012 tera- T 1960 Trillion Billion 1 000 000 000 000
10003 109 giga- G 1960 Billion Milliard (thousand million) 1 000 000 000
10002 106 mega- M 1960 Million 1 000 000
10001 103 kilo- k 1795 Thousand 1 000
10002/3 102 hecto- h 1795 Hundred 100
10001/3 101 deca- da 1795 Ten 10
10000 100 (none) (none) NA One 1
1000−1/3 10−1 deci- d 1795 Tenth 0.1
1000−2/3 10−2 centi- c 1795 Hundredth 0.01
1000−1 10−3 milli- m 1795 Thousandth 0.001
1000−2 10−6 micro- µ 1960[2] Millionth 0.000 001
1000−3 10−9 nano- n 1960 Billionth Milliardth 0.000 000 001
1000−4 10−12 pico- p 1960 Trillionth Billionth 0.000 000 000 001
1000−5 10−15 femto- f 1964 Quadrillionth Billiardth 0.000 000 000 000 001
1000−6 10−18 atto- a 1964 Quintillionth Trillionth 0.000 000 000 000 000 001
1000−7 10−21 zepto- z 1991 Sextillionth Trilliardth 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001
1000−8 10−24 yocto- y 1991 Septillionth Quadrillionth 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001
Notes:
1. The 1795 dates identify prefixes in use since the metric system was introduced. The other dates are not necessarily dates of first use, but rather the date of recognition by a resolution of the CGPM, which first met in 1889.
2. The micron was earlier recognized by the CGPM in 1948; that decision was abrogated in 1967-68.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (2006). The International System of Units (SI) (8th Edn). ISBN 92-822-2213-6.

[edit] See also

ca:Micro cs:Mikro da:Mikro- es:Micro fa:میکرو fr:Micro (préfixe du système international) ko:마이크로 it:Micro (prefisso) he:תחיליות במערכת היחידות הבינלאומית#.D7.9E.D7.99.D7.A7.D7.A8.D7.95 nl:Micro ja:マイクロ no:Mikro nn:Mikro pl:Mikro pt:Micro sl:Mikro sr:Микро fi:Mikro sv:Mikro vi:Micrô zh:微

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