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C | Useful Information

This appendix is broken into several tables.

Table C1, Important Constants
Table C2, Submicroscopic Masses
Table C3, Solar System Data
Table C4, Metric Prefixes for Powers of Ten and Their Symbols
Table C5, The Greek Alphabet
Table C6, SI units
Table C7, Selected British Units
Table C8, Other Units
Table C9, Useful Formulae


Symbol	Meaning	Best Value	Approximate Value
$c$	Speed of light in vacuum	$2 . 99792458 \times 10^{8} m / s$	$3 . 00 \times 10^{8} m / s$
$G$	Gravitational constant	$6.67408 (31) \times 10^{- 11} N \cdot m^{2} / {kg}^{2}$	$6 . 67 \times 10^{- 11} N \cdot m^{2} / {kg}^{2}$
$N_{A}$	Avogadro’s number	$6.02214129 (27) \times 10^{23}$	$6 . 02 \times 10^{23}$
$k$	Boltzmann’s constant	$1.3806488 (13) \times 10^{- 23} J / K$	$1 . 38 \times 10^{- 23} J / K$
$R$	Gas constant	$8.3144621 (75) J / mol \cdot K$	$8.31 J / mol \cdot K = 1 . 99 cal / mol \cdot K = 0 . 0821 atm \cdot L / mol \cdot K$
$σ$	Stefan-Boltzmann constant	$5.670373 (21) \times 10^{- 8} W / m^{2} \cdot K$	$5 . 67 \times 10^{- 8} W / m^{2} \cdot K$
$k$	Coulomb force constant	$8.987551788 . . . \times 10^{9} N \cdot m^{2} / C^{2}$	$8.99 \times 10^{9} N \cdot m^{2} / C^{2}$
$q_{e}$	Charge on electron	$- 1 . 602176565 (35) \times 10^{- 19} C$	$- 1 . 60 \times 10^{- 19} C$
$ε_{0}$	Permittivity of free space	$8.854187817 . . . \times 10^{- 12} C^{2} / N \cdot m^{2}$	$8 . 85 \times 10^{- 12} C^{2} / N \cdot m^{2}$
$μ_{0}$	Permeability of free space	$4π \times 10^{- 7} T \cdot m / A$	$1 . 26 \times 10^{- 6} T \cdot m / A$
$h$	Planck’s constant	$6.62606957 (29) \times 10^{- 34} J \cdot s$	$6 . 63 \times 10^{- 34} J \cdot s$

Table C1

Important Constants^¹


Symbol	Meaning	Best Value	Approximate Value
$m_{e}$	Electron mass	$9.10938291 (40) \times 10^{- 31} kg$	$9 . 11 \times 10^{- 31} kg$
$m_{p}$	Proton mass	$1.672621777 (74) \times 10^{- 27} kg$	$1 . 6726 \times 10^{- 27} kg$
$m_{n}$	Neutron mass	$1.674927351 (74) \times 10^{- 27} kg$	$1 . 6749 \times 10^{- 27} kg$
$u$	Atomic mass unit	$1.660538921 (73) \times 10^{- 27} kg$	$1 . 6605 \times 10^{- 27} kg$

Table C2

Submicroscopic Masses^²


Sun	mass	$1 . 99 \times 10^{30} kg$
	average radius	$6 . 96 \times 10^{8} m$
	Earth-sun distance (average)	$1 . 496 \times 10^{11} m$
Earth	mass	$5 . 9736 \times 10^{24} kg$
	average radius	$6 . 376 \times 10^{6} m$ ${}$
	orbital period	$3 . 16 \times 10^{7} s$
Moon	mass	$7 . 35 \times 10^{22} kg$
	average radius	$1 . 74 \times 10^{6} m$
	orbital period (average)	$2 . 36 \times 10^{6} s$
	Earth-moon distance (average)	$3 . 84 \times 10^{8} m$

Table C3

Solar System Data


Prefix	Symbol	Value	Prefix	Symbol	Value
tera	T	$10^{12}$	deci	d	$10^{- 1}$
giga	G	$10^{9}$	centi	c	$10^{- 2}$
mega	M	$10^{6}$	milli	m	$10^{- 3}$
kilo	k	$10^{3}$	micro	$μ$	$10^{- 6}$
hecto	h	$10^{2}$	nano	n	$10^{- 9}$
deka	da	$10^{1}$	pico	p	$10^{- 12}$
—	—	$10^{0} (= 1)$	femto	f	$10^{- 15}$

Table C4

Metric Prefixes for Powers of Ten and Their Symbols


Alpha	$Α$	$α$	Eta	$Η$	$η$	Nu	$Ν$	$ν$	Tau	$Τ$	$τ$
Beta	$Β$	$β$	Theta	$Θ$	$θ$	Xi	$Ξ$	$ξ$	Upsilon	$Υ$	$υ$
Gamma	$Γ$	$γ$	Iota	$Ι$	$ι$	Omicron	$Ο$	$ο$	Phi	$Φ$	$ϕ$
Delta	$Δ$	$δ$	Kappa	$Κ$	$κ$	Pi	$Π$	$π$	Chi	$Χ$	$χ$
Epsilon	$Ε$	$ε$	Lambda	$Λ$	$λ$	Rho	$Ρ$	$ρ$	Psi	$Ψ$	$ψ$
Zeta	$Ζ$	$ζ$	Mu	$Μ$	$μ$	Sigma	$Σ$	$σ$	Omega	$Ω$	$ω$

Table C5

The Greek Alphabet


	Entity	Abbreviation	Name
Fundamental units	Length	m	meter
	Mass	kg	kilogram
	Time	s	second
	Current	A	ampere
Supplementary unit	Angle	rad	radian
Derived units	Force	$N = kg \cdot m / s^{2}$	newton
	Energy	$J = kg \cdot m^{2} / s^{2}$	joule
	Power	$W = J / s$	watt
	Pressure	$Pa = N / m^{2}$	pascal
	Frequency	$Hz = 1 / s$	hertz
	Electronic potential	$V = J / C$	volt
	Capacitance	$F = C / V$	farad
	Charge	$C = s \cdot A$	coulomb
	Resistance	$Ω = V / A$	ohm
	Magnetic field	$T = N / (A \cdot m)$	tesla
	Nuclear decay rate	$Bq = 1 / s$	becquerel

Table C6

SI Units


Length	$1 inch (in .) = 2 . 54 cm (exactly)$
	$1 foot (ft) = 0 . 3048 m$
	$1 mile (mi) = 1 . 609 km$
Force	$1 pound (lb) = 4 . 448 N$
Energy	$1 British thermal unit (Btu) = 1 . 055 \times 10^{3} J$
Power	$1 horsepower (hp) = 746 W$
Pressure	$1 lb / {in}^{2} = 6 . 895 \times 10^{3} Pa$

Table C7

Selected British Units


Length	$1 light year (ly) = 9 . 46 \times 10^{15} m$
	$1 astronomical unit (au) = 1 . 50 \times 10^{11} m$
	$1 nautical mile = 1 . 852 km$
	$1 angstrom (Å) = 10^{- 10} m$
Area	$1 acre (ac) = 4 . 05 \times 10^{3} m^{2}$
	$1 square foot ({ft}^{2}) = 9 . 29 \times 10^{- 2} m^{2}$
	$1 barn (b) = 10^{- 28} m^{2}$
Volume	$1 liter (L) = 10^{- 3} m^{3}$
	$1 U.S. gallon (gal) = 3 . 785 \times 10^{- 3} m^{3}$
Mass	$1 solar mass = 1 . 99 \times 10^{30} kg$
	$1 metric ton = 10^{3} kg$
	$1 atomic mass unit (u) = 1 . 6605 \times 10^{- 27} kg$
Time	$1 year (y) = 3 . 16 \times 10^{7} s$
	$1 day (d) = 86, 400 s$
Speed	$1 mile per hour (mph) = 1 . 609 km / h$
	$1 nautical mile per hour (naut) = 1 . 852 km / h$
Angle	$1 degree (°) = 1 . 745 \times 10^{- 2} rad$
	$1 minute of arc (^{'}) = 1 / 60 degree$
	$1 second of arc (^{''}) = 1 / 60 minute of arc$
	$1 grad = 1 . 571 \times 10^{- 2} rad$
Energy	$1 kiloton TNT (kT) = 4 . 2 \times 10^{12} J$
	$1 kilowatt hour (kW \cdot h) = 3 . 60 \times 10^{6} J$
	$1 food calorie (kcal) = 4186 J$
	$1 calorie (cal) = 4 . 186 J$
	$1 electron volt (eV) = 1 . 60 \times 10^{- 19} J$
Pressure	$1 atmosphere (atm) = 1 . 013 \times 10^{5} Pa$
	$1 millimeter of mercury (mm Hg) = 133 . 3 Pa$
	$1 torricelli (torr) = 1 mm Hg = 133 . 3 Pa$
Nuclear decay rate	$1 curie (Ci) = 3 . 70 \times 10^{10} Bq$

Table C8

Other Units


Circumference of a circle with radius $r$ or diameter $d$	$C = 2 πr = πd$
Area of a circle with radius $r$ or diameter $d$	$A = {πr}^{2} = {πd}^{2} / 4$
Area of a sphere with radius $r$	$A = 4 {πr}^{2}$
Volume of a sphere with radius $r$	$V = (4 / 3) ({πr}^{3})$

Table C9

Useful Formulae

Footnotes

1 Stated values are according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty, www.physics.nist.gov/cuu (accessed May 18, 2012). Values in parentheses are the uncertainties in the last digits. Numbers without uncertainties are exact as defined.
2 Stated values are according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty, www.physics.nist.gov/cuu (accessed May 18, 2012). Values in parentheses are the uncertainties in the last digits. Numbers without uncertainties are exact as defined.

C | Useful Information

C | Useful Information

C | Useful Information

Important Constants1

Submicroscopic Masses2

Solar System Data

Metric Prefixes for Powers of Ten and Their Symbols

The Greek Alphabet

SI Units

Selected British Units

Other Units

Useful Formulae

Footnotes

Related Items

Resources

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Links

Important Constants^¹

Submicroscopic Masses^²