The Metric Prefixes  

Prefix: Symbol: Magnitude: Meaning (multiply by):
Yotta- Y 1024 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
Zetta- Z 1021 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
Exa- E 1018 1 000 000 000 000 000 000
Peta- P 1015 1 000 000 000 000 000
Tera- T 1012 1 000 000 000 000
Giga- G 109 1 000 000 000
Mega- M 106 1 000 000
myria- my 104 10 000 (this is now obsolete)
kilo- k 103 1000
hecto- h 102 100
deka- da 10 10
- - - -
deci- d 10-1 0.1
centi- c 10-2 0.01
milli- m 10-3 0.001
micro- m (mu) 10-6 0.000 001
nano- n 10-9 0.000 000 001
pico- p 10-12 0.000 000 000 001
femto- f 10-15 0.000 000 000 000 001
atto- a 10-18 0.000 000 000 000 000 001
zepto- z 10-21 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001
yocto- y 10-24 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001

Converting within the metric system becomes very easy with a little practice. It is simply
a matter of moving the decimal the proper number of places, in the correct direction! For
example: 27 000 000 000 grams would be 27 gigagrams, and 0.000 000 045 meters
would be 45 nanometers.

SI base units
Base quantity Name Symbol
length meter m
mass kilogram       kg
time second s
electric current ampere A
o
temperature       degree C
amount of substance mole mol
Information (computer memory) byte b
You will almost never need to convert between the metric and the English systems in
biology. We will simply do everything in metric to start with. The exception is
temperature. On occasion you may need to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius.

1 degree Celsius = 9/5 degree Fahrenheit - 32

1 degree Fahrenheit = 5/9 degree Celsius + 32

So, if the weather report in Canada says it will be 40O outside, you know that the
temperature will be 32+(9/5)(40)=104 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Not very usual for
Canada!

The easy way to do this in your head is to just double the Celsius and add 30. For the
former problem, that would be 80+30=110. Note that this overestimates the temperature
by a larger and larger margin as you get far away from zero (freezing). But for the range
in which living things are common, it gives you a good quick estimate. For example, 20
degrees Celsius is (2*20) + 30 = 70 degrees by the estimate. Using the exact conversion,
it is 68 degrees.

Memorize four temperatures in Celsius and you will never go wrong:

0 is freezing point of water

100 is boiling point of water
25 is “room temperature”
37 is human body temperature