Microscopy is a field of investigation which is used to study objects which are too small to be easily viewed by the human eye. Viewing and studying objects that range in size from millimeters (1mm ~ 0.04" = 4 hundredths of an inch) to nanometers (1 nm ~ 0.00000004" = 40 billionths of an inch) intrigues everyone and is currently applied to every field of science and technology in use today. Microscopes, devices which magnify, come in a wide range of forms and use a multitude of illumination sources ( light, electrons, ions, x-rays and and mechanical probes) and signals to produce an image. A microscope can be as simple as a hand held magnifying glass or as complex as a multi-million dollar research instrument. Using these tools, a microscopist explores the relationship of structure and properties of a wide variety materials in order to more fully understand the reasons why a particular item behaves the way it does. It is a fascinating discipline which is applied to all fields from biology and chemistry to physics and engineering.
The metric system is the standard unit of measure in science and in almost all countries except the United States. The metric system is a decimal system, meaning that all of the units are divisible by 10. The common units of measurement are presented below:
| Type of Measurement | Unit Name | Symbol |
| length/distance | meter | |
| weight | gram | |
| volume | liter | |
| temperature | degree Celcius |
The metric system utilizes prefixes attached to the beginning of the basic units to create new units which are either larger or smaller. A list of the common prefixes and their meaning is presented below:
yotta [Y] 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 = 10^24 zetta [Z] 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 = 10^21 exa [E] 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 = 10^18 peta [P] 1 000 000 000 000 000 = 10^15 tera [T] 1 000 000 000 000 = 10^12 giga [G] 1 000 000 000 (a thousand millions = a billion) mega [M] 1 000 000 (a million) kilo [k] 1 000 (a thousand) hecto [h] 100 (a hundred) deca [da]10 (ten) 1 deci [d] 0.1 (a tenth) centi [c] 0.01 (a hundredth) milli [m] 0.001 (a thousandth) micro [µ] 0.000 001 (a millionth) nano [n] 0.000 000 001 (a thousand millionth) pico [p] 0.000 000 000 001 = 10^-12 femto [f] 0.000 000 000 000 001 = 10^-15 atto [a] 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 = 10^-18 zepto [z] 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001 = 10^-21 yocto [y] 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 = 10^-24 |
Standard Metric Values
One milliliter of water is equal to the volume of one cubic centimeter of water at sea level.
One gram of water is equal to the weight of one ml (cm3) of water at sea level.