Does Micro and a billionth mean the same thing?

[The Metal Butcher]

What's always annoyed me is the use of the term "mil" plastic tarp mfg.'s paint coating thickness etc. use the term mil to indicate material thickness. Why not just say thousandths

1 mil = .001 Special terminology for specific industries ??

JL..............

Oh it drives me nuts...

My work is very heavy on coatings... Vacuum and plasma spray, and so I hear the term "mils" all the time. It us just now starting to not throw me off. Worst is when people use to to talk about distances. "Take 80 mil off that side."

[MattiJ]

Nope. A metre is 1000 milimetres, so you can't link it to a micrometer however much you try. Where do you guys learn to spell?

I get the metre vs. meter but I have to ask that what distant island you are from if you spell milli as "mili"

[Richard P Wilson]

A meter is 1000 millimeters so a micrometer (length) is 1000/1,000,000 = 0.001 millimeters. Some of the metric micrometers (tools) I've seen have vernier scales that permit reading to 0.001 millimeters.

So, the word "micrometer" interpreted as a length is about what the (vernier) "micrometer" tool can measure.

However, the derivation of the name is not a description of the lower limit of its measurement capability but rather a term foNoper its ability to measure very small lengths, as this quote from Wikipedia indicates...

The word micrometer is a neoclassical coinage from Greek micros 'small', and metron 'measure'. The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary says that English got it from French and that its first known appearance in English writing was in 1670. Neither the metre nor the micrometre (µm) nor the micrometer (device) as we know them today existed at that time.

Nope. A metre is 1000 milimetres, so you can't link it to a micrometer however much you try. Where do you guys learn to spell?

[polaraligned]

We have circular mils which is a measurement of area equal to the area of a 0.001” dia circle.

[psomero]

Mille = latin for 1000
kilo = greek for 1000


And in US "M" seem to be often micro. And mega is "meg".
Like 1Mf capacitor and 1 meg(ohm) resistor

Capital M should denote Mega, lowercase m would be mili. At least half the population of people who use these prefixes screw it up.

My source: engineering school and 20 years of reading (modern) datasheets from component vendors. Does not reflect past practices per se

[mklotz]

"Mil" is another one of those screwy, dual-valued non-units for which the inferial system is so noted.

Mil in the machine shop is slang for 0.001 inch. However, in the military world of artillery, a mil is 1/6400 of a circle. There are 2000*pi ~= 6284 milliradians in a circle so the military, in all its wisdom, "rounded" 6284 to 6400. (The reason for using radians to measure angles is that the arc length ~= lateral offset can then be calculated by multiplying the angle by the range.)

Mil, like sheet metal gauge numbers (and the rest of the inferial nonsense), should be confined to the garbage can of history.

[nickel-city-fab]

Mil means thousand now un-fortunately it has turned out that it can mean EITHER 1000. or .001. While for the other units there are Deci and Deca Meg and Micro, Gig and Nano etc
I guess you have to get which of Mil meanings from context . :-)
...lew... Anybody ave a good foundation in, I guess Latin ??? :-)

One mil being the thousandth part, I think it works either way.
Yep, greek or latin. Can't remember which, dangit now I gotta look it up!
As for micro, that is the millionth part.

[mklotz]

A meter is 1000 millimeters so a micrometer (length) is 1000/1,000,000 = 0.001 millimeters. Some of the metric micrometers (tools) I've seen have vernier scales that permit reading to 0.001 millimeters.

So, the word "micrometer" interpreted as a length is about what the (vernier) "micrometer" tool can measure.

However, the derivation of the name is not a description of the lower limit of its measurement capability but rather a term for its ability to measure very small lengths, as this quote from Wikipedia indicates...

The word micrometer is a neoclassical coinage from Greek micros 'small', and metron 'measure'. The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary says that English got it from French and that its first known appearance in English writing was in 1670. Neither the metre nor the micrometre (µm) nor the micrometer (device) as we know them today existed at that time.

[polaraligned]

Mille = latin for 1000
kilo = greek for 1000


And in US "M" seem to be often micro. And mega is "meg".
Like 1Mf capacitor and 1 meg(ohm) resistor

1Mf would be a 1 millifarad capacitor. 1uF would be 1 microfarad capacitor....in modern notation.

Very old schematics from the early tube days used M to represent micro when giving a capacitor value and used MMF to represent picofarad. Believe it or not, they also often used M to represent Kilo in a resistor value also...

[MattiJ]

Mil means thousand now un-fortunately it has turned out that it can mean EITHER 1000. or .001. While for the other units there are Deci and Deca Meg and Micro, Gig and Nano etc
I guess you have to get which of Mil meanings from context . :-)
...lew... Anybody ave a good foundation in, I guess Latin ??? :-)

Mille = latin for 1000
kilo = greek for 1000


And in US "M" seem to be often micro. And mega is "meg".
Like 1Mf capacitor and 1 meg(ohm) resistor

[lynnl]

Isn't "mili" = 1/1,000 , as in miligram, and "kilo"=1,000 as in kilogram?

[Lew Hartswick]

Mil means thousand now un-fortunately it has turned out that it can mean EITHER 1000. or .001. While for the other units there are Deci and Deca Meg and Micro, Gig and Nano etc
I guess you have to get which of Mil meanings from context . :-)
...lew... Anybody ave a good foundation in, I guess Latin ??? :-)

[JoeLee]

What's always annoyed me is the use of the term "mil" plastic tarp mfg.'s paint coating thickness etc. use the term mil to indicate material thickness. Why not just say thousandths

1 mil = .001 Special terminology for specific industries ??

JL..............

[SLK001]

In this context, "meter" means instrument for measurements, not length. I have a volt meter, which is NOT a volt length. Also, "micro" means "small" in this context. So, you have a device that can measure to small increments, or a micrometer.

[polaraligned]

Micro would be millionths. Move the decimal point 6 places.
Nano would be billionth. Move the decimal point 9 places.