Chapter 1: Understanding the New SI Prefixes

How much does our planet weigh? Approximately six ronnagrams. Recently, the SI measurement system has introduced new prefixes to represent both extremely large and small quantities more effectively.

[Photo: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay]

The esteemed journal Nature indicates that by the 2030s, humanity will generate more than one yottabyte of data, equating to 2 raised to the power of 80 bytes, or around a million trillion megabytes. The introduction of prefixes like "jotta" (10^24) and "zetta" (10^21) in 1991 was a significant step forward. These additions were primarily requested by chemists who found them useful for managing measurements in moles, where one mole represents just over 6*10^23 particles.

With the past two decades proving the sufficiency of these prefixes, the need for more has arisen. Scientists, engineers, and data analysts have been advocating for additional prefixes to simplify the representation of both large and small values.

Section 1.1: The Adoption of New Prefixes

These new prefixes were officially adopted on November 18 during the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures, held in Versailles, which occurs every four years.

The newly added prefixes include:

• "ronna" (10^27) for one followed by twenty-seven zeros,
• "quetta" (10^30) for one followed by thirty zeros,
• "ronto" (10^–27) for one followed by negative twenty-seven zeros,
• "quecto" (10^–30) for one followed by negative thirty zeros.

These changes allow for easier communication of measurements. For instance, instead of stating the Earth's mass as 5.9*10^24 kg, one can simply refer to it as about 6 ronnagrams. In contrast, Jupiter weighs about 2 quettagrams, while an electron is approximately a rontogram.

[Photo: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay]

Section 1.2: The Driving Force Behind Change

Richard Brown, a metrologist at the UK's National Physical Laboratory, has been a key advocate for these new prefixes. For five years, he recognized a gap in the existing system, particularly in data analysis, where the term yottabyte was becoming insufficient.

“When it comes to measuring data in yottabytes, we are hitting a ceiling,” Brown remarked in an interview. “The addition of new prefixes also benefits fields like quantum and particle physics, where incredibly small measurements are crucial.”

Subsection 1.2.1: The Challenge of New Prefixes

Brown's initial suggestion to expand the prefix list stemmed from the emergence of informal terms in tech circles. For example, Google users were beginning to refer to a thousand yottabytes as a "hellabyte." Such unofficial terms could lead to confusion within the International System of Units.

When reviewing available letters for new prefixes, Brown noted that only "r" and "q" remained unassigned, leading to the selection of these letters for the new prefixes.

[Photo: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay]

Chapter 2: Future of SI Prefixes

Brown believes that the newly adopted prefixes should meet the demands for large numerical representations for at least the next two decades. However, as scientific advancements continue, we may find ourselves needing to express quantities with even larger figures in 25-30 years.

While one possibility is to borrow symbols from non-Latin alphabets, Brown proposes the creation of compound prefixes, such as kiloQuetta (kQ) for 10^33. “But we still have plenty of time before we need to worry about that,” he stated in a conversation with Nature magazine.

The video titled "ALL International System PREFIXES at SCALE (...μm - cm - m - km...) - YouTube" provides a comprehensive overview of these new prefixes and their applications.