New prefixes for big numbers and small measurements

The International System of Units (SI) gained four prefixes at the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in Paris in November. The CGPM decided to expand the list of SI prefixes to encompass a larger range of numbers—both massive and minuscule. Now, ronna (R) and ronto (r) will describe multiplying factors of 10²⁷ and 10^–27, respectively. Quetta (Q) and quecto (q) go even further, to include factors of 10³⁰ and 10^–30, respectively. These codified SI prefixes will help data scientists accurately describe gargantuan quantities of digital information that are pushing the limits of the prefix yotta, for 10²⁴, which has represented the upper range of the SI prefix list since it was adopted in 1991. The tiny complements of the freshly minted, behemoth prefixes also give chemists a new way to measure our smallest subunits. For example, the mass of an electron is approximately 1 rontogram, thanks to the updated list of SI prefixes.