Choose Your Units

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Some units are particularly well suited to a given measurement because they turn out to give a small, whole number of units. Understanding this concept gives you a feel for the order of magnitude of the quantities.

What units would you measure these quantities in to make an approximation which was a reasonably small whole number?

• The volume of a bacterium
• The mass of an oak tree
• The area of a leaf
• The half-life of Uranium-235
• The area of a football pitch
• The average lifespan of a human
• The volume of a bath tub

• Millimetre
• Newton
• Angstrom
• Joule
• Volt
• Microgram
• Micrometre
• Hertz
• Parsec

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