Units And Order Of Magnitude Calculations

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Units and Order of Magnitude Calculations

  • We will use the MKS system of units, which depends on
    • meters to measure length
    • kilograms to measure mass
    • seconds to measure time
  • You should be able to work with angles in both degrees and radians
  • The following metric prefixes are vital: giga G 10^9 mega M 10^6 kilo k 10^3 centi c 10^(-2) only for centimeters, really milli m 10^(-3) micro mu 10^(-6) (that's the Greek letter "mu") nano n 10^(-9)
  • In some situations, you may not find the exact information you need to solve a problem; being able to take reasonable estimates and use them to calculate the order of magnitude of the answer can be very useful.
  • The famous physicist Enrico Fermi was fond of setting, and then solving, puzzles which involve a good deal of common sense and order-of-magnitude calculation. I'm fond of them, too. Hint, hint.

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