METRIC SYSTEM AND POWERS OF TEN
Basic Electrical Theory
Table A-6 shows the metric prefixes expressed as powers of 10.
TABLE A-6
METRIC PREFIXES EXPRESSED
as POWERS of 10
Metric Prefix Power of 10
mega (M)
106
kilo (k)
103
milli (m)
10-3
micro (µ)
10-6
nano (n)
10-9
pico (p)
10-12
Electrical units can be expressed in different, but equivalent, units by using prefixes expressed
in powers of 10.
Examples:
Express 780,000 W in Megohms (MW).
1W = 10-6 MW
780,000 W = 780,000 W x 10-6 = 0.78 MW
Express 4.5 V in millivolts (mV).
1 V = 103 mV
4.5 V = 4.5 x 103 mV = 4500 mV
ES-01
Page A-8
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