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Almost
correct-- the Ångstrom is actually 0,1 nanometers. When I studied astronomy back
in the 1960's everything connected with optical spectra was given in Ångstroms.
So 670nm would be 6700 Å.
Clive
Dear David,
There is a letter in the Swedish alphabet
(capital A with a ring above). Some Swede by the name of Ångstrøm was a
scientist and worked with light and color. He came up with a convenient was to
accurately measure the color of light. That measurement was named after him
and given the symbol (capital A with a ring above). The next time you see one
of those laser pointer pens take a look at the label. It will say 670 nm which
means 670 nanometers. The red light has a wavelength of 670 billionths of a
meter. An Ångstrøm is equal to ten nanometers so that red light would be
described as 67Å. When Kodak develops your
film, they calibrate their equipment by looking for some common color like sky
blue and making that equal to a standard Ångstrøm value. I don't know why
Unicode implemented it twice. We use a regular old k for kilo and M for Mega.
When it comes to other scientific symbols, we still use a Greek uppercase
omega to represent ohms of electrical resistance and lowercase omega to
represent rotational speed.
Wm Seán Glen
Hi,
One of you mentioned that Unicode is
reluctant to make symbols for
things like TM, that are really only
composed of other characters.
Yet I read on someone's website that
there's an Ångstrøm (Or Ångström, I
Am Not A Swede) symbol that's
exactly identical to the Scandinavian Å.
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