SI Prefixes in the Wine Industry

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 49936

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

The SI base units are not always of convenient size for a particular measurement. For example, the liter would be too big for reporting the volume of a cell in a grape, but rather small for the volume of wine produced in the Napa Valley in a year. To overcome this obstacle the SI includes a series of prefixes, each of which represents a power of 10. These allow us to reduce or enlarge the SI base units to convenient sizes. The figures below show how these prefixes can be applied to the meter to cover almost the entire range of lengths we might wish to measure.

Prefixes Used for Decimal Fractions and Multiples of SI Units.

The SI base unit for volume is the cubic meter (m³). However, m³ is a rather large unit for most day to day and laboratory applications, so the liter has been defined and accepted as an alternate volume unit in the SI system. The liter (L) is defined as 1 cubic dm (dm³). As a result 1000 L = 1 m³. In the medical field the cubic centimeter (cc or cm³) is also used regularly. It is useful to know that 1cc=1mL.

Despite the fact that the kilogram is the SI unit of mass, the standard prefixes are applied to the gram when larger or smaller mass units are needed. For example, the quantity 10⁶ kg (1 million kilograms) can be written as 1 Gg (gigagram) but not as 1 Mkg (megakilogram). The operative rule here is that one and only one prefix should be attached to the name for a unit. Figure 1.6 illustrates the use of this rule in expressing the wide range of masses available in the universe. Note that the masses of atoms and molecules are usually so small that scientific notation must be used instead of prefixes.

From ChmPRIME: 1.4: SI Prefixes

Contributors and Attributions

Ed Vitz (Kutztown University), John W. Moore (UW-Madison), Justin Shorb (Hope College), Xavier Prat-Resina (University of Minnesota Rochester), Tim Wendorff, and Adam Hahn.