Mega- and nano-everything

By Marcus Wilson 22/02/2013 1




I wonder when we’ll see ‘zetta-‘ things go on sale, at zetta-stores?








One Response to “Mega- and nano-everything”

  • The “correct” use of words depends on the context and polysemes and homonyms are good examples of this.

    Exponential is a common term that is not confined to physics (or should this be mathematics?). So are hyperbole, tangent, and circular, to name a few; they have meanings outside of the formal scientific language. The friction (…) between language, semantics, and (mathematical) formalism is and has been a fascinating issue for yonks.

    The same is true of the prefix “mega”; take megalomaniac, for example. You know that it is derived from the Greek word for great or “micro”, which means small and not necessarily “one millionth”.

    I think the use of “nano” is hyped (exaggerated) because the SI prefixes go in steps of thousands (i.e. three orders of magnitude, which, BTW, is another common word that not necessarily and always means 10-fold) and it often refers to sizes or scales on the order of 10^−7.

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