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Orders of magnitude

An order of magnitude is a factor of ten. For example, two numbers are said to differ by "3 orders of magnitude" if one is 1000 times larger than other. Orders of magnitude are quite easily and commonly described through the use of scientific notation and powers of ten.

One way of categorising things in the physical world is by their size. The pages below contain lists of items that are of the same order of magnitude in time, length, area, volume, mass, or energy. This is useful for getting an intuitive sense of the comparative size of things and the overall scale of the universe. SI units are used together with SI prefixes: these were devised with orders of magnitude in mind. Each individual page also gives other units; see also conversion of units.

In the following table the different quantities are lined up so that the following are in the same row: length and the time taken by light to cross that length, area of a square and the length of one side, volume of a cube and the area of one face, mass of some water and its volume. See also separate tables for length, area, volume, mass, time.

Time Length Area Volume Mass Energy Temperature
(second) (metre) (square metre) (cubic metre) (kilogram) (joule) (kelvin)
10-44 s 10-35 m          
...
10-28 s[?] 100 zm          
10-27 s[?] 1 am        

1 nK
10-26 s[?] 10 am       1 peV
 
 

1 µK
10-25 s[?] 100 am        

1 mK
10-24 s[?] 1 fm       0.001 meV[?]
0.01 meV[?]
0.1 meV

1 K
10-23 s[?] 10 fm       1 meV
10 meV
100 meV 		10 K
100 K
1000 K
10-22 s[?] 100 fm 10-28 m2[?]     1 eV
10 eV
100 eV 		10,000 K
100,000 K
106 K
10-21 s[?] 1 pm     10-33 kg[?]
10-32 kg[?]
10-31 kg 		1000 eV
104 eV
105 eV

109 K
10-20 s[?] 10pm     10-30 kg
10-29 kg
10-28 kg 		1 MeV
10 MeV
100 MeV

109 K
10-20 s[?] 10pm     10-30 kg
10-29 kg
10-28 kg 		1 MeV
10 MeV
100 MeV

1012 K
10-19 s[?] 100 pm 10-20 m2[?]
10-19 m2[?]		   10-27 kg
10-26 kg
10-25 kg 		1 GeV
10 GeV
100 GeV

1015 K
10-18 s 1 nm 10-18 m2[?]
10-17 m2[?]		   10-24 kg
10-23 kg
10-22 kg 		1 TeV
10 TeV
100 TeV

1018 K
10-17 s[?] 10 nm 10-16 m2[?]
10-15 m2[?]		   10-21 kg
10-20 kg
10-19 kg 		0.0001 J
0.001 J
0.01 J

1021 K
10-16 s 100 nm 10-14 m2[?]
10-13 m2[?]		 10-21 m3[?]
10-20 m3[?]
10-19 m3[?]		 10-18 kg
10-17 kg
10-16 kg 		0.1 J
1 J
10 J

1024 K
1 fs 1 μm 10-12 m2[?]
10-11 m2[?]		 10-18 m3[?]
10-17 m3[?]
10-16 m3[?]		 10-15 kg
10-14 kg
10-13 kg 		100 J
1000 J
10000 J

1027 K
10 fs[?] 10 μm 10-10 m2[?]
10-9 m2[?]		 10-15 m3[?]
10-14 m3[?]
10-13 m3[?]		 10-12 kg
10-11 kg
10-10 kg 		100000 J
0.001 kWh
0.01 kWh

1030 K
100 fs 100 μm 10-8 m2[?]
10-7 m2[?]		 10-12 m3[?]
10-11 m3[?]
10-10 m3[?]		 10-9 kg
10-8 kg
10-7 kg 		0.1 kWh
1 kWh
10 kWh		  
1 ps 1 mm 10-6 m2
10-5 m2		 10-9 m3[?]
10-8 m3[?]
10-7 m3[?]		 10-6 kg
10-5 kg
10-4 kg 		100 kWh
1000 kWh
10000 kWh		  
10 ps 1 cm 1 cm2
10 cm2		 1 ml
10 ml
100 ml		 1 g
10 g
100 g 		100000 kWh
1 TWh
10 TWh		  
100 ps 10 cm 0.01 m2
0.1 m2		 1 l
10 l
100 l		 1 kg
10 kg
100 kg 		100 TWh
1000 TWh
10000 TWh		  
1 ns 1 m 1 m2
10 m2		 1 m3
10 m3
100 m3		 1 t
10 t
100 t 		100000 TWh
106 TWh
107 TWh		  
10 ns 10 m 100 m2
1,000 m2		 1,000 m3
10,000 m3
105 m3 		106 kg
107 kg
108 kg 		108 TWh
109 TWh
  
100 ns 100 m 1 ha
10 ha		 106 m3
107 m3
108 m3 		109 kg
1010 kg
1011 kg
1012 TWh
 
1 μs 1 km 1 km2
10 km2		 1 km3
10 km3
100 km3 		1012 kg
1013 kg
1014 kg
1015 TWh
  
10 μs 10 km 108 m2
109 m2		 1012 m3

 1015 kg
1016 kg
1017 kg
1018 TWh
  
100 μs 100 km 1010 m2
1011 m2		 1015 m3

 1018 kg
1019 kg
1020 kg
1021 TWh
  
1 ms 1000 km 1012 m2
1013 m2		 1018 m3

 1021 kg
1022 kg
1023 kg
1024 TWh
  
10 ms 104 km 1014 m2
1015 m2		 1021 m3

 1024 kg
1027 TWh
  
100 ms 105 km 1016 m2
1017 m2		 1024 m3

 1027 kg

 
1030 TWh
  
1 s 106 km 1018 m2
1019 m2		 1027 m3

 1030 kg
1033 TWh
  
10 s 107 km 1020 m2
1021 m2		   1033 kg[?]
1036 TWh[?]
  
100 s 1 AU     1036 kg
1039 TWh[?]
  
1 hr 10 AU     1039 kg
1042 TWh[?]
  
10 hr 100 AU     1042 kg[?]
1045 TWh[?]
  
1 day 1000 AU     1045 kg[?]
1048 TWh[?]
  
10 day 104 AU     1048 kg[?]
1051 TWh[?]
  
1 yr 1 LY     1051 kg
1054 TWh
  
10 yr 10 LY          
100 yr 100 LY          
1000 yr 1000 LY          
104 yr 104 LY          
105 yr 105 LY          
106 yr 106 LY          
107 yr 107 LY          
108 yr 108 LY          
109 yr 109 LY          
1010 yr 1010 LY          
1011 yr            
1012 yr
and more 		           

Units used in the table The table uses units and prefixes that are commonly recognized:

See also

External links


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