How to Convert Meters to Micrometers

Metric prefixes are used for modifying the International System of Units (SI) in order to conveniently express very large or very small numbers. For instance, 8000 grams can be written as 8 kilograms and the prefix "kilo-" implies the magnitude of 1E3 (the notation 1E-3 means "ten in power 3"). The prefix "micro-" indicates the magnitude of 1E-6 (see resources). As an example, calculate 0.000045 meters in micrometers.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator

Instructions

1. Find the conversion coefficient "k" between 1 meter and 1 micrometer.
   1 meter =k x (1 micrometer). Since 1 micrometer equals to 1E-6 meters, you can get that k=1 meters/1E-6 meters=1,000,000. Hence
   1 meter =1,000,000 x (1 micrometer).

2. Obtain the formula to convert meters to micrometer using the proportion:
   1 meter corresponds to 1,000,000 x (1 micrometer)
   Value (meters) corresponds to Value (micrometers).

   The solution of this proportion leads to the formula:
   Value (micrometers)= Value (meters) x 1,000,000.

3. Convert 0.000045 meters into micrometers using the formula from Step 2.

   Value (micrometers)= 0.000045 meters x 1,000,000=45 micrometers.

Resources

• Metric Prefixes