The Physics
Hypertextbook
Opus in profectus

International System of Units

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Practice

practice problem 1

Write something.

solution

Answer it.

practice problem 2

Write something.

solution

Answer it.

practice problem 3

Write something.

solution

Answer it.

practice problem 4

Complete the following puns based on the SI prefixes.
  1. 10−15 boy = 
  2. 10−12 door = 
  3. 101 cards = 
  4. 10−6 fish = 
  5. 1021 piccolos = 
  6. 2 × 103 mockingbirds = 
  7. 106 pains = 
  8. 101 millipedes = 
  9. 1012 microphones = 
  10. 1012 pins = 
  11. 101 rations = 

solution

Here are the answers. Since some of the words are obscure, especially for non-native speakers of English, I've added definitions.

  1. 10−15 boy = 1 attoboy
    (attaboy: an informal expression of praise or encouragement; derived from the phrase "that a boy")

  2. 10−12 door = 1 picodoor
    (picador: a horseman in a bullfight who jabs the bull with a pike to weaken it)

  3. 101 cards = 1 dekacard
    (deck of cards: a set of playing cards; also called a pack of cards, but that doesn't work as a joke)

  4. 10−6 fish = 1 microfish
    (microfiche: a small sheet of film on which many pages of printed material have been photographed)

  5. 1021 piccolos = 1 gigalo
    (gigolo: a young man supported financially by an older woman in return for sex)

  6. 2 × 103 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbird
    (To kill a mockingbird: a 1960 novel by the American author Harper Lee)

  7. 106 pains = 1 megahertz
    (mega hurts: not to be confused with a Hertz donut)

  8. 101 millipedes = 1 centipede
    (centipede: a multi-segmented, predatory arthropod with one pair of legs per segment)

  9. 1012 microphones = 1 megaphone
    (megaphone: a funnel shaped device for amplifying the human voice)

  10. 1012 pins = 1 terapin
    (terrapin: a name applied to several different species of turtle)

  11. 101 rations = 1 dekaration
    (decoration: a word in English you should not need a definition for)