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They may call the kilogram the base unit, but in practice no one talks about millikilograms (just "grams") or microkilograms (just "milligrams"). The gram might
by nybble41 5y ago
They may call the kilogram the base unit, but in practice no one talks about millikilograms (just "grams") or microkilograms (just "milligrams"). The gram might be formally defined in terms of a 1 kg physical mass, but for the purpose of SI prefixes the gram is the real base unit and there is nothing wrong with saying 1 Mg instead of 1000 kg.
- BrandoElFollito 5y agoAlso nobody says 1 kilokilogramme (1000 kg). This isaid, the mass base unit in SI is really the kg, even if g would be natural (and indeed people will say 1 g instead of 1 millikilogram). I was always annoyed by kg being the base unit (and I had to drag this suffering throughout my PhD in physics) but this thread opened my eyes on the possibility to use "compensating" prefixes on the kg (millikilogram to say gram) - it is a shame I did not think about that before to drive everyone crazy :)
- imtringued 5y agoEveryone says 1000kg = 1 ton though.