Appendix A

SI units

A.1 Base units

Astronomers have been rather bad at using the SI system; they prefer their own ‘custom’ units
(M , pc, etc.), or adopt cgs units (centimetre, gram, second) in preference to mks units
(metre, kilogram, second) from which the SI system derives. Nevertheless, students, in
particular, really should strive to use SI, which (among other advantages) greatly simplifies
treatments of electricity.1

The irreducible base units of the SI system [and their cgs counterparts, where different] are:

Quantity SI Unit cgs equivalent

length metre m [centimetre cm = 10−2 m]
mass kilogram kg [gram g = 10−3 kg]
time second s
electric current ampere A [Biot bi = 10−1 A]
amount of substance mole mol
luminous intensity candela cd
thermodynamic kelvin K [degree Celsius ◦C = K − 273.15]
temp.

1
In SI, electric current is defined in terms of the directly measurable magnetic force it exerts, and charge is
then defined as current multiplied with time.
In cgs ‘electrostatic units’, the unit of charge (or statcoulomb), is defined by the quantity of charge which gives a
force constant of 1 in Coulomb’s law. That is, for two point charges, each with charge 1 statcoulomb, separated
by 1 centimetre, the electrostatic force between them is one dyne. This also has the effect of making electric
charge dimensionless (and not requiring a fundamental unit).

A–1
A.2 Derived units

‘Derived quantities’ can be defined in terms of the seven base quantities. There are 20 derived
quantities which are not dimensionless and which, for convenience, have named units; these are
tabulated overleaf.

The units of angle and solid angle are, formally, simply the number 1 (being ratios of
dimensionally identical quantities). Nonetheless, these two further derived quantities have
named units, as the lack of units could easily be confusing. They are:

• radian (rad): the unit of angle is the angle subtended at the centre of a circle by an arc
of the circumference equal in length to the radius of the circle (so there are 2π radians in
a circle).

• steradian (sr): the unit of solid angle is the solid angle subtended at the centre of a
sphere of radius r by a portion of the surface of the sphere having an area r2 (so there
are 4π steradians on a sphere).

Many other derived quantities in more or less common use don’t have special names for their
units; some are given in the following tables. In a few cases, they have named units in the cgs
system.A number of other convenient units are not directly derived from the SI base units, but
can nonetheless be expressed in terms of those units, and are recognized by the guardians of
the SI system. Important examples for astrophysics include:

• The day (d = 86 400 s), hour (h = 3600 s), and minute (m=60 s).
(The year is not an admitted unit, though for rough calculations it’s usually adequate to
assume 1 yr ' 365.25 d.)

• the degree (◦ = 2π/360 rad), arcminute (0 = 2π/21 600 rad), and arcsecond
(00 = 2π/1.296×106 rad)

• the atomic mass unit (amu = 1.66053886 × 10−27 kg)

• the electron volt (eV = 1.60217646 × 10−19 J)

• the ångström (Å = 10−10 m = 0.1 nm)

• the astronomical unit (AU = 1.49598 × 1011 m) and

the parsec (pc = 3.08568025 × 1016 m).

A–2
 Named Derived SI units
Quantity Unit Base units Equivalent cgs unit
angular measure radian rad 1
solid angle steradian sr 1
frequency hertz Hz s−1 s−1
force, weight newton N m kg s−2 m kg s−2 dyne dyn 10−5 N
pressure, stress pascal Pa N m−2 m−1 kg s−2
energy, work, heat joule J Nm m2 kg s−2 erg erg 10−7 J
power, radiant flux watt W J s−1 m2 kg s−3
electric charge or coulomb C As As
electric flux
voltage, electrical volt V W A−1 = J C−1 m2 kg s−3 A−1
potential difference,
electromotive force
electric capacitance farad F C V−1 m−2 kg−1 s4 A2
electric resistance, ohm Ω V A−1 m2 kg s−3 A−2
impedance, reac-
tance

A–3
electrical conduc- siemens S Ω−1 m−2 kg−1 s3 A2
tance
magnetic flux weber Wb J A−1 m2 kg s−2 A−1 maxwell Mx 10−8 Wb
magnetic field tesla T V s m−2 = Wb m−2 = N A−1 m−1 kg s−2 A−1 gauss G 10−4 T
inductance henry H V s A−1 = Wb A−1 m2 kg s−2 A−2
◦
Celsius temperature Celsius C t(◦ C) = t(K) − 273.15 K
luminous flux lumen lm cd sr cd
illuminance lux lx lm m−2 m−2 cd phot ph 104 lx
radioactivity (decays becquerel Bq Hz s−1
per unit time)
absorbed dose (of gray Gy J kg−1 m2 s−2
ionizing radiation)
equivalent dose (of sievert Sv J kg−1 m2 s−2
ionizing radiation)
catalytic activity katal kat mol s−1 mol s−1
 Unnamed Derived SI units
Quantity Units
area m2 m2
volume m3 m3
speed, velocity m s−1 m s−1
acceleration m s−2 m s−2
jerk m s−3 m s−3
angular velocity rad s−1 s−1
momentum, impulse Ns kg m s−1
angular momentum Nms kg m2 s−1
torque, moment of force Nm kg m2 s−2
wavenumber m−1 m−1
mass density kg m−3 kg m−3
heat capacity, entropy J K−1 kg m2 s−2 K−1
specific heat capacity, specific entropy J K−1 kg−1 m2 s−2 K−1
specific energy J kg−1 m2 s−2
energy density J m−3 kg m−1 s−2
surface tension N m−1 = J m−2 kg s−2
heat flux density, irradiance W m−2 kg s−3
thermal conductivity W m−1 K−1 kg m s−3 K−1
diffusion coefficient m2 s−1 m2 s−1
dynamic viscosity1 Pa s = N s m−2 kg m−1 s−1
kinematic viscosity2 m2 s−1 m2 s−1
electric charge density C m−3 m−3 A s
electric current density A m−2 A m−2
conductivity S m−1 kg−1 m−3 s3 A2
permittivity F m−1 kg−1 m−3 s4 A2
permeability H m−1 kg m s−2 A−2
electric field strength V m−1 kg m s−3 A−1
magnetic field strength3 A m−1 A m−1
luminance4 cd m−2 cd m−2
cgs named units:
1
poise P = 0.1 Pa s
2
stokes St = 10−4 m2 s−1
3
oersted Oe = 1000
4π
A m−1
4
stilb sb = 10 cd m−2
4

A–4
A.3 Prefixes

The SI system also specifies that names of multiples and submultiples of units are formed by
means of the following prefixes:

Multiplying Prefix Symbol Multiplying Prefix Symbol

Factor Factor
1024 yotta Y 10−1 deci d
1021 zetta Z 10−2 centi c
1018 exa E 10−3 milli m
1015 peta P 10−6 micro µ
1012 tera T 10−9 nano n
109 giga G 10−12 pico p
106 mega M 10−15 femto f
103 kilo k 10−18 atto a
102 hecto h 10−21 zepto z
101 deca da 10−24 yocto y

Multiple prefixes may not be used, even for the kilogram (unique among SI base units in
having one of these prefixes as part of its name), for which the prefix names are used with the
unit name ‘gram’, and the prefix symbols are used with the unit symbol ‘g’; e.g,
10−6 kg = 1 mg (not 1 µkg).

With this exception, any SI prefix may be used with any SI unit (whether base or derived,
including the degree Celsius and its symbol ◦ C). Note that use of ‘micron’ for the µm persists
very widely (almost universally!) in astrophysics, although the approved SI name is the
micrometre.

According to SI rules, these prefixes strictly represent powers of 10, and should not be used to
represent powers of 2. Thus one kilobit (1 kbit) is 1000 bit – not 210 bit = 1024 bit. In an
attempt to resolve this ambiguity, prefixes for binary multiples have been recommended by the
International Electrotechnical Commission for use in information technology (though they’re
achieving acceptance only slowly):

Factor Name Symbol Origin

210 kibi Ki ‘kilobinary’, (210 )1 kilo, (103 )1
220 mebi Mi ‘megabinary’, (210 )2 mega, (103 )2
230 gibi Gi ‘gigabinary’, (210 )3 giga, (103 )3
240 tebi Ti ‘terabinary’, (210 )4 tera, (103 )4
250 pebi Pi ‘petabinary’, (210 )5 peta, (103 )5
260 exbi Ei ‘exabinary’, (210 )6 exa, (103 )6

A–5
A.4 Writing style

For those really interested in the details, here are some of the more important elements of recommended
writing style:

• Symbols are written in upright Roman type (‘m’ for metres, ‘l’ for litres).

• Units are written without a capital (other than where the rules of punctuation require it), as are
their corresponding symbols, except for symbols derived from the name of a person; thus “the
symbol for the coulomb is ‘C’ ”. However, some American-speaking countries use ‘L’ for ‘litre’ (to
avoid confusion with numeric ‘1’).

• Names of units take plurals according to the usual rules of grammar; e.g., 20 kilograms,
40 henries. ‘Hertz’, ‘lux’, and ‘siemens’ have the same form in the singular and the plural.
Symbols of units are not pluralised (‘20 kg’, not ‘20 kgs’), thereby avoiding confusion with the
second (‘s’).

• A space should separates a number and its unit (‘20 kg’, not ‘20kg’). Exceptions are the symbols
for degrees, arcminutes, and arcseconds (◦ , 0 , 00 ), which should be contiguous with the number
(e.g., 20◦ 150 ).

• Symbols do not have an appended full stop (other than where the rules of punctuation require it;
specifically, at the end of a sentence).

• Commas should not be used to break up long runs of digits, though spaces may be used
(3.141 592 654, not 3.141,592,654).

A–6
Appendix B

Constants

B.1 Physical constants

Speed of light c 2.99792458 × 108 m s−1

Universal gravitational constant G 6.67300 × 10−11 m3 kg−1 s−2 (= N m2 kg−2 )
Planck’s constant h 6.626068 × 10−34 m2 kg s−1 (=J s)
Boltzmann’s constant k 1.3806503 × 10−23 m2 kg s−2 K−1 (=J K−1 )
Stefan-Boltzmann constant σ 5.67040 × 10−8 W m−2 K−4
Radiation constant a = 4σ/c 7.55 × 10−16 J m−3 K−4
Atomic mass unit amu 1.66053886 × 10−27 kg
Hydrogen mass m(H) 1.00794 amu
Proton mass mP 1.67262158 × 10−27 kg
Electron mass me 9.10938188 × 10−31 kg
Electron charge e 1.60217646 × 10−19 C
πe2
me c 2.654 × 10−6 m2 s−1

B–1
B.2 Astronomical constants

Astronomical unit AU 1.49598 × 1011 m

Parsec pc 3.08568025 × 1016 m

B.2.1 Solar parameters

The ‘solar constant’ is the (very slightly variable) energy flux from the Sun measured at the mean
distance of the Earth; numerically,

solar constant, C = 1366 J m−2 s−1 .

The mean Earth–Sun distance is

d ≡ 1 AU = 1.496 × 1011 m

whence, since L = 4πd2 C ,

L = 3.827 × 1026 W

This allows us to define the Sun’s effective temperature, from L = 4πR2 σTeff
4
, using

R = 6.960 × 108 m;
Teff () = 5770 K.

The solar mass is

M = 1.989 × 1030 kg

(which follows from equating centrifugal and gravitational accelerations of the Earth in orbit,
2
M⊕ v⊕ GM M⊕
=
R⊕ d2

whence the mean density is

M
ρ=
4/3πR3


= 1.4 × 103 kg m−3

Finally, the mean number density is

ρ
n= ' 1.4 × 1030 m−3
µm(H)

(using µ ' 0.61).

B–2