Metric Prefix Converter

About This Tool

This Metric Prefix Converter is an educational tool designed to help understand the scale of the International System of Units (SI). Instead of converting a physical quantity, it converts a value from one prefix to another (e.g., from kilo- to mega-). The 'base unit' represents a factor of 1 (e.g., meter, gram, second).

SI prefixes are used to create multiples and submultiples of SI units to avoid unwieldy numbers. This system makes it easy to express very large or very small quantities in a standardized way across all fields of science and engineering.

Tips & Features

• Powers of 10: The metric system is a decimal system, meaning all prefixes are powers of 10. This makes conversions as simple as moving a decimal point or adjusting an exponent.
• Large Prefixes: Prefixes like kilo- (10³), mega- (10⁶), and giga- (10⁹) are used for large quantities, such as distance (kilometer) or data storage (gigabyte).
• Small Prefixes: Prefixes like milli- (10⁻³), micro- (10⁻⁶), and nano- (10⁻⁹) are used for small quantities, common in electronics (millisecond), biology (micrometer), and nanotechnology (nanometer).