Relative sizes: Cell biology

• Centi


  A prefix meaning one hundredth of a unit

  
• Milli


  A prefix meaning one thousandth of a unit

  
• Micro


  A prefix meaning one millionth of a unit

  
• Nano


  A prefix meaning one thousand-millionth of a unit

  
• Light microscope


  Equipment that uses light and lenses to magnify objects

  
• Standard form


  A system where numbers are expressed as decimals between 1 and 10 and multiplied by a power of 10

  
• Order of magnitude

  A number to the power of 10 which is used to make comparisons of size

  
• Magnification


  How much an image appears to have increased in size by

  
• Relative size of a prokaryotic cell

  A cell which is 100 times bigger than a virus

  
• Relative size of a eukaryotic cell


  A cell which is 10-100 times bigger than a bacterial cell

  
• 10^1


  10 times bigger

  
• 10^2


  100 times bigger

  
• 10^3


  1000 times bigger

  
• 10^-1


  10 times smaller

  
• 10^-2


  100 times smaller