(Most Important) Unit Conversions

Length

Area

Volume

Mass

Pressure

Energy

Power (energy per unit time)

Temperature

Radioactivity

Commonly used prefixes...

Scientific notation
Prefix........... 
Exponent
Examples of exponential usage:
peta (P) 
15 
amount of CO2 in atmosphere (as C)- 750 Pg (or Gt)
tera (T) 
12 
 
giga (G) 
pool sizes: amount of water in ocean - 1.37 x 109 km
mega (M) 
rates: flow of Anatarctic Circumpolar Current - 200 x 106 m s-1
kilo (k) 
distance New York - Albany ~ 350km
hecto (h)
2
atmospheric pressure: ~1012.5 hPa (=1012.5 mbar)
base unit 
 
milli (m) 
-3 
typical amount of medicine ~1ml
micro (m
-6 
 
nano (n) 
-9 
wavelength of violet light ~400nm
pico (p) 
-12 
size of atom ~10pm
femto (f) 
-15
detection limit of gas chromatographs for SF6 : ~1 fmole/L