Scientists Reveal Earth Has a New Identity

VIVA – Recently, scientists added a new type of the International System of Units (SI). Ronna and Quetta became the largest units in the system. This announcement gives Earth a new identity. It is known that the Earth weighs about six ronnagrams.

The measurement was announced at the 27^th General Conference on Weights and Measures at the Palace of Versailles in France. The conference, held every four years, determines new additions to the International System of Units (SI).

Just as one kilogram represents 1,000 grams, one ronnagram represents one gram followed by 27 zeros, and one quettagram followed by 30 zeros. The prefix can be applied to any of the basic units in the SI system. 

For example, a ronnameter is equal to one meter to the 27^th power, and a quettavolt is one volt of electricity to the 30^th power, as quoted from the Russian Today page on Monday, November 21, 2022.

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The new measurement was proposed by Richard Brown of the UK's National Physical Laboratory and was driven by the needs of the technology industry which has used the previous highest measurements in data storage, namely yottabytes and zettabytes.

"In terms of revealing yottabytes of data, which is the highest prefix now, we're very close to the limit," Richard Brown remarked.

Brown added that the new addition should represent the future system for the next 20 to 25 years. The international system of units will face new challenges by then because with "R" and "Q" taken away, there are no more letters in the alphabet that are not already used for other units.

In the future, the new units will make it easier for anyone who wants to describe very large objects. 

"If we think about mass instead of distance, Earth weighs about six ronnagrams. Jupiter is about two quettagrams," Richard Brown remarked.

The conference also chose two new prefixes to describe the smallest things in the universe. 'Ronto' describes a unit of negative power 27, while 'quecto' describes a unit of negative power 30. It means that one quectogram is equal to 0.000000000-000000000000000000000000001 grams.

"Small measurements like that will be useful for quantum science, particle physics when you measure very small objects," Brown added.

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Brown added that the new addition should represent the future system for the next 20 to 25 years. The international system of units will face new challenges by then because with "R" and "Q" taken away, there are no more letters in the alphabet that are not already used for other units.