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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2018
As the need for prefixes for 10-21 and 10-24 arose, “zepto” and “yocto” surfaced. Professor Dovichi, a leader in ultramicroanalytical techniques, jokingly suggested that these units have been named in honor of two lesser known Marx brothers. Indeed, the habits of the International Committee of Weights and Measures are mysterious, as the bastardized Scandinavian femto and atto (10-15 and 10-18) had already proved. Joke aside, the need for having units as small as 10-15 and 10-24 is a serious and dramatic development. After all, a yoctomole is less than a single molecule. It makes sense only as a probability in a quantum mechanical context. It is instructive to visualize the full range of dimensions.