Converting units

$c=\lambda v$

Dakota Walker 1L
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:17 am

Converting units

If you wanted to convert, for example, 400nm to angstroms, how would you do this?
Angstroms are 10^-10m and nm are 1*10^-9m.
Would you have to convert nm to m first, or how generally would you do this?

Sally Qiu 2E
Posts: 105
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:18 am

Re: Converting units

To convert from nanometers to angstroms, you multiply by 10.

VioletKo3F
Posts: 103
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2019 12:18 am

Re: Converting units

Since Angstroms are 1*10^-10m and nm are 1*10^-9m, the nm is 10 times larger than the Angstrom. To convert from nm to Angstrom, you would just multiply by 10.

Megan Jung 3A
Posts: 50
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2019 12:17 am

Re: Converting units

since nm= 10^-9m
10^-10m =1 Angstrom

400nm(10^-9m/1nm)(1 A/10^-10m)
=4000 A

Shutong Hou_1F
Posts: 117
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2019 12:17 am

Re: Converting units

To convert length units, we could always use meter (m) as the basic reference, that is, we could convert any unit into meter (m) first. Generally, we remember the meaning of the prefix of length units by remembering that adding the prefix means meter (m) multiplied by x power to 10.
Specifically in this question, 400nm = (400nm) * (1m / 10 ^ 9nm) * (10 ^ 10 angstrom / 1m) = 4000 angstrom

stephaniekim2K
Posts: 79
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:16 am

Re: Converting units

400nm (1m / 10^9nm) (1 A / 10^-10m) = 4000 A

Khushboo_3D
Posts: 60
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:19 am

Re: Converting units

To convert 400 nm to Angstroms, you would first convert it to meters by multiplying it by 10^-9. This would give you the answer in meters. Now you would convert it to angstrom. You would do this by dividing by 10^-10. This would give you the answer in Angstrom which should be 4000A.

505316964
Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2019 12:17 am

Re: Converting units

A good tip to remember when converting units is to make sure they cancel until what you want is left. Set them up as ratios so that when you multiply terms the top and bottom cancel.

san_2F
Posts: 118
Joined: Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:15 am

Re: Converting units

The method that I found easier was to first change it to meters and then use the meters to Angstrom equation to change it to Angstroms.