08-12-2016, 02:00 PM
I find micromicrofarads clumsy and confusing - probably because it is using the same multiplier twice when there is a perfectly good one for the purpose - so, for me, it is the correct picofarad.
When I first started getting interested in electronics, only the microfarad and picofarad were in common use, resulting in a lot of unnecessary decimal points and zeros on circuit diagrams.
Also, there was no consistency - one would use 0.001µF and another 1,000ρF for the same value, and so on.
The introduction of the nanofarad made all the difference - 1nF being much simpler and less likely to be misread than the others, particularly 0.001µF, which might also appear as .001µF without the leading zero. If the decimal point didn't show up very well and a speck appeared in the wrong place, the second one was particularly prone to misinterpretation.
As these multipliers existed long before electronics, I don't know why they were not used from the start. Seeing 500µµF on a pre-war circuit has always struck me as weird.
The introduction in the 60s of the practice of putting the multiplier in place of the decimal point, whilst looking a bit odd at first, is an excellent method of preventing decimal point errors and I quickly grew to love it!
When I first started getting interested in electronics, only the microfarad and picofarad were in common use, resulting in a lot of unnecessary decimal points and zeros on circuit diagrams.
Also, there was no consistency - one would use 0.001µF and another 1,000ρF for the same value, and so on.
The introduction of the nanofarad made all the difference - 1nF being much simpler and less likely to be misread than the others, particularly 0.001µF, which might also appear as .001µF without the leading zero. If the decimal point didn't show up very well and a speck appeared in the wrong place, the second one was particularly prone to misinterpretation.
As these multipliers existed long before electronics, I don't know why they were not used from the start. Seeing 500µµF on a pre-war circuit has always struck me as weird.
The introduction in the 60s of the practice of putting the multiplier in place of the decimal point, whilst looking a bit odd at first, is an excellent method of preventing decimal point errors and I quickly grew to love it!
