Order of magnitude |
When some quantity is known to the nearest power of ten, it is said to be known to within one order of magnitude. For instance: A motorbike has a length of one meter. A bus has a length of 10 meters. A football field has a length of 100 m. A hurricane has a diameter of 106 m. Visible light has a wavelength of 5x10-6 m. Atoms in a salt crystal are 10-10 m apart. ... to the nearest order of magnitude. |
It has been said that an experimental physicist is - "Someone with a rough idea of orders of magnitude: what can be measured, and what can't." > More |