Advocate to extend the SI system scale

About 20,000 scientists and students sign on a website that advocates for the use of the hella prefix, reducing the numbers to 27 zero (equivalent to 10 ^ 27).

Austin Sendek, a University of California physics student, who initiated the campaign, said: 'The process of analyzing physical phenomena makes numbers appear to be greater than 27 digits in the calculation. Yet, the international measuring system (SI) is ignoring this fact . '

Currently, 'yotta' (10 ^ 24) is the largest prefix in SI (used to shorten the digits with 24 digits 0).

The yotta prefix (10 ^ 24) did not meet the scientists' need to transmit digits.

If approved, the hella prefix (representing 10 ^ 27) will be used in calculations involving the energy output from the sun, the distance between galaxies, the number of atoms, or samples with an enormous amount of measurement.

The most recent addition to the International Metrology Council was in 1991, when they recognized the prefix zetta (10 ^ 21) and yotta (10 ^ 24).

However, the obstacle to the campaign initiated by Sendek is that hella is a popular slang in Northern California, USA (meaning 'very' or 'many'). The identification in science has traditionally used Latin or Greek.

Therefore, it is likely that hella is not approved by the International Metrology Council, and they will not give a new prefix but combine two kilo and yotta prefixes to represent 10 ^ 27 units.