Units of Measurement

King-Armstrong

ALP method that uses phenyl phosphate; standardization of clinical enzyme assays

gravity (g)

Acceleration of a body by the attraction of the earth's gravitational force, normally 32.2 ft/sec^2

Kilohertz (kHz)

Another unit of frequency. 1 kHz = 1000 Hz.

Metric Ton (MT)

Approximately 1.1 US tons. Equal to 1 million grams, or 1,000 kilograms.

Dalton (Da) and the unified atomic mass unit (u)

This unit is commonly used in physics and chemistry to express the mass of atomic-scale objects, such as atoms, molecules, and elementary particles.

turbidity-reducing unit (TRU)

Turbidity is commonly measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU). The nephelometric method compares how light is scattered in a water sample against the amount of light scattered in a reference solution.

Gray (Gy)

Unit in the International System used to measure the amount of energy absorbed in any medium; 1 Gy = 100 radiation absorbed doses

Centipoise (cp)

Unit of dynamic viscosity (absolute viscosity): force X time/area

Sievert (Sv)

Unit of effective dose of ionizing radiation

Volt

Unit of electric pressure

centimeters of water (cm H2O)

Unit of pressure -- used to measure Central Venus Pressure, Intracranial Pressure, CPAP

day (d)

Use this abbreviation in virgule construction, tables, and figures

knot

Velocity of one nautical mile per hour

rat unit (RU)

a bioassay unit consisting of the amount of a material (as a vitamin) that under standardized conditions is just sufficient to produce a specified response in all or a designated proportion of a group of experimental rats

millimeters of mercury (mm Hg)

a common unit of pressure

fluid ounce (fl oz)

a customary unit used to measure small amounts of liquid volume or capacity; 8 of these equal 1 cup. 1 = 2 T

decibel (dB)

a logarithmic unit of sound intensity

Kilowatt

a measure of 1,000 watts of electrical power.

ppm (parts per million)

a measure of concentration in solution. For example, a 5.25% chlorine bleach solution (undiluted as supplied by the manufacturer) contains approximately 52,500 parts per million of free available chlorine.

Kilojoule (kJ)

a unit for measuring energy intake or expenditure; 1000 J

ampere (A)

a unit of electric current equal to a flow of one coulomb per second.

international benzoate unit (IBU)

?? salt

base pair (bp)

A base pair is one of the pairs A-T or C-G. Notice that each base pair consists of a purine and a pyrimidine.

ounce (oz)

A customary unit of weight equal to one sixteenth of a pound. 16 ounces = 1 pound.

Deciliter (dL)

A deciliter is 1/10 of a liter and is the common unit used in the measurement of hemoglobin, which is expressed in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL)

grain

A grain is a unit of measurement of mass, and in the troy weight, avoirdupois, and Apothecaries' system, equal to exactly 64.79891 milligrams.

month (mo)

A length of time equal to 28, 30, or 31 days. 12 months (mo.) = 1 year (yr.); (use mo only in v, t, f, etc)

kilogram (kg)

A metric unit of mass equal to 1000 grams.

Mouse Unit (MU)

A mouse unit (MU) is the amount of toxin required to kill a 20g mouse in 15 minutes via Intraperitoneal injection.

kilocalorie (kcal)

A thousand calories; the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1°C.

farad (F)

The SI unit for capacitance: Capacitance is the ability of a component or circuit to collect and store energy in the form of an electrical charge. Capacitors are energy-storing devices available in many sizes and shapes.

lux

The lux (symbol: lx) is the SI derived unit of illuminance, measuring luminous flux per unit area.[1][2] It is equal to one lumen per square metre.

Kilovoltage peak (kVp)

The maximum or peak voltage that is used during an x-ray exposure.

Radian

The measure of a central angle that intercepts an arc with length equal to the radius of the circle

rpm (revolutions per minute)

The number of times per minute that a hard disk platter rotates.

gram (g)

The standard unit of mass in the metric system. 1,000 grams = 1 kilogram

Fahrenheit

The temperature scale on which water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees

ohm

The unit of electric resistance in the meter-kilogram-second system of units. Symbolized as Ω.

henry (H)

The unit of measurement of inductance. The Henry is named after American scientist Joseph Henry.

pounds per square inch (psi)

pressure a gas or liquid exerts on the walls of its container, measured in units of one pound of force or pressure applied to one square inch

Calorie (cal)

quantity of heat that raises the temperature of one gram of water by 1 C

qt

quart; equal to 32 ounces; 1/4 gallon; 2 pints; 0.94 liter

rad

radiation absorbed dose

Sp. G.

specific gravity; the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a standard, usually water for a liquid or solid, and air for a gas.

equivalent (Eq)

the amount of a positive or negative ion that supplies 1 mole of electrical charge

Saybolt seconds Universal (SSU)

the time in seconds required for 60 cubic centimeters of a fluid to flow through the orifice of the Standard Saybolt Universal Viscometer at a given temperature under specified conditions.

Hertz (Hz)

the unit of frequency, equal to one cycle per second

Microampere (µA)

one millionth of an ampere

Centimorgan (cM)

(also, map unit) relative distance that corresponds to a recombination frequency of 0.01; distance between genes on chromosomes

volume percent (vol%)

(volume of solute/ volume of total solution) x 100

centigram (cg)

.001 g

pound

0.453592 kg

lumen

light

pint

2 cups

yard

0.9144 m

cubic millimeter (mm3)

1 cu mm = 1 microliter (µl) (Use µl for liquid/gas)

megacurie (MCi)

1 million curies

megacycle (Mc)

1 million cycles (megahertz)

Megabyte (MB)

1,024 kilobytes/ 1 million bytes

nanogram (ng)

1/1000th of a microgram

decigram (dg)

10 dg = 1 g

kilocurie (kCi)

1000 Ci

Kilobyte (KB)

1024 bytes

Electrostatic Unit (ESU)

Franklin (Fr) or statcoulomb (statC): physical unit of electrical charge

cubic centimeter (cm3 or cc)

The base unit of volume for solids in the metric system.

dyne

The force which, applied to a mass of one gram for 1 second, would give it a velocity of 1 cm/s.

international unit

the quantity of enzyme required to convert one micromole of substrate per minute into products

Kelvin scale (K)

the temperature scale in which the freezing point of water is 273 K and the boiling point is 373 K; 0 K is absolute zero

hour (h)

60 minutes; short hand on an analog clock; use abbre. only in virgules and tables

Kilodalton (kD)

A measure of atomic mass, commonly used to indicate the weight of proteins. On average, each amino acid weighs 110 daltons.

picocurie

A measure of radioactivity. One picoCurie (pCi) of radioactivity is equivalent to 0.037 nuclear disintegrations per second.

Volume

A measure of the size of a body or region in three-dimensional space

centimeter (cm)

A metric unit of length equal to 0.01 of a meter. 100 cm = 1 m

kilometer (km)

A metric unit of length equal to 1000 meters.

Gauss (G)

A unit for magnetic field strength, non-SI. Equals 10 to the negative fourth Teslas

Kilovolt (kV)

A unit of electromotive force, equal to 1,000 volts. High kilovoltage is essential for the production of dental x-rays.

Joule (J)

A unit of energy: 1 J = 0.239 cal; 1 cal = 4.184 J.

Newton

A unit of measure that equals the force required to accelerate 1 kilogram of mass at 1 meter per second per second

Kilovolt ampere (kVA)

A volt-ampere is the unit used for the apparent power in an electrical circuit, equal to the product of voltage and current.

liter

Basic unit of volume in the metric system

Siemens

Electrical Conductance

cubic micrometer (µm³)

How many cubic micrometer in 1 cubic millimeter? The answer is 1,000,000,000.

cubic foot (cu ft)

Measure of dry natural gas

Counts per minute (cpm) and kilocounts per minute (kcpm)

Measurement of ionizing radiation (detection of alpha and beta particles)

electron volt (eV)

Measurement of the binding energy of an electron; the energy one electron will have when it is accelerated by an electrical potential of 1 volt.

Katal (kat)

Measures catalytic activity

disintegrations per minute (dpm)

Measures of the activity of the source of radioactivity. The Bq is SI unit equivalent to 1 dpm.

Celsius

Metric unit for measuring temperature; On this scale water freezes at zero and boils at 100.

roentgen equivalents in human

One of the two standard units used to measure the dose equivalent (or effective dose), which combines the amount of energy (from any type of ionizing radiation that is deposited in human tissue), along with the medical effects of the given type of radiation.

kilobase (kb)

One thousand nucleotides or nucleotide base pairs.

tuberculin unit (TU)

One unit (1 IU) is equivalent to 0.1 mL of TUBERCULIN PPD at a strength of 0.0002 mg/mL.

candela (cd)

SI base unit of luminous intensity

Tesla

SI unit for magnetic field

coulumb (C)

SI unit of electric charge

The watt (W)

SI unit of power

Pascal (Pa)

SI unit of pressure

cubic meter (m^3)

SI unit of volume

fentomole (fmol)

So 1 femtomole = 10(-15) moles.

Roentegen (R)

a unit of ionizing radiation, the amount producing one electrostatic unit of positive or negative ionic charge in one cubic centimeter of air under standard conditions.The roentgen or röntgen is a legacy unit of measurement for the exposure of X-rays and gamma rays, and is defined as the electric charge freed by such radiation in a specified volume of air divided by the mass of that air (statcoulomb per kilogram).

anstrom (1A = 0.1 nanometers)

a unit of length used for wavelengths and atomic distances

torr

a unit of pressure used in measuring partial vacuums, equal to 133.32 pascals (use mm mercury)

Prism Diopter (PD)

a unit of prismatic deviation, in which the number one represents a prism that deflects a beam of light a distance of one centimeter on a plane placed normal to the initial direction of the beam and one meter away from the prism.

Nanocurie (nCi)

a unit of radioactivity, being one billionth (10 to the −9) of a curie.

gigabyte (GB)

a unit of storage measuring roughly one billion bytes, or 1024 MB

Bodansky unit (BU)

an obsolete measure of alkaline phosphatase concentration in blood. It is defined as the quantity of alkaline phosphatase that liberates 1mg of phosphate ion during the first hour of incubation with a buffered substrate containing sodium β-glycerophosphate.

atmosphere (atm)

average pressure at sea level

counts per second (cps)

cpm at higher rates

Hertz (Hz)

cycles or waves per second, a measurement of frequency

Normal Solution

has 1 gEq of solute per liter of solution, or 1 mEq/ml of solution

billion electron volts (GeV)

kinetic energy of electrons (billion (10 to the 9th) electron volts

volume per volume (v/v)

measure of the concentration of a substance in a solution. It is expressed as the ratio of the volume of the solute to the total volume of the solution multiplied by 100.

barn (b)

measurement of subatomic particles equal to 10−24 square cm

British Thermal Unit (BTU)

the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit

Millicurie/mCi

the amount of radioactive material in which 37 million atoms disintegrate each second

Horsepower (HP or hp)

the energy required to lift 550 pounds a distance of one foot in one second

molar mass

the mass in grams of one mole of a substance

fentogram (fg)

unit of mass; used in mass spec and genomic DNA

Osmoles (osm)

unit of measurement for the number of particles in a solution and reflects whether a substance dissolves or dissolves and dissociates

Curie (Ci) and Becquerel (Bq)

unit of radioactivity

becquerel (Bq)

unit of radioactivity in the International System of Units, equal to one disintegration per second

diopter (D)

unit of strength of the lens settings on the ophthalmoscope that changes focus on the eye structures

Kiloelectron Volts (keV)

units of energy equal to 1000 electron volts

bar

weight, pressure