One millimetre is equal to 1000micrometres or 1000000nanometres.
Since an inch is officially defined as exactly 25.4 millimetres, a millimetre is equal to exactly 5⁄127 (≈ 0.03937) of an inch.
Definition
Since 1983, the metre has been defined as "the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second".[1] A millimetre, 1/1000 of a metre, is therefore the distance travelled by light in 1/299792458000 of a second.
Informal terminology
A common shortening of millimetre in spoken English is "mil". This can cause confusion since in the United States, "mil" traditionally means a thousandth of an inch.
In Japanese typography, these square symbols are used for laying out unit symbols without distorting the grid layout of text characters.
Measurement
On a metric ruler, the smallest measurements are normally millimetres.[3] High-quality engineering rulers may be graduated in increments of 0.5 mm. Digital callipers are commonly capable of reading increments as small as 0.01 mm.[4]
Microwaves with a frequency of 300 GHz have a wavelength of 1 mm. Using frequencies between 30 GHz and 300 GHz for data transmission, in contrast to the 300 MHz to 3 GHz normally used in mobile devices, has the potential to allow data transfer rates of 10 gigabits per second.[5]
The smallest dimension the human eye can resolve is around 0.02 to 0.04 mm, approximately the width of a thin human hair.[6] A sheet of paper is typically between 0.07 mm and 0.18 mm thick, with ordinary printer paper or copy paper approximately 0.1 mm thick.[7]
See also
Look up millimetre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.