Order of magnitude?

[gottaluvlasers]

is there a "simple" (iif thats possible, lol) explanation of what "an order of magnitude" means?

i hear it quite often when refering to Lasers and energy. Just never really understood what it means.

I think it means 10X power. is this safe to assume?

ex.- i want my 1W laser to be one order of magnitude stronger. i want it to be 10W.

am i somewhat correct here?

-Marc

[krazer]

An order of magnitude is precisely 10x. (or 10db if you are into such things)

So yes, a 10w green is an order of magnitude more powerful than a 1w green. But since our eyes aren't linear in seeing how bright things are, the 10w will only look 2-5x as bright as the 1w did.

[mliptack]

Generally speaking, Krazer is correct. However, an order of magnitude in one circumstance could be a completely separate ratio compared to another circumstance.

For example an order of magnitude in one industry could be a factor of 10. While in another it could be a factor of say 15 or 20. Think of "4 score and x years ago."

And to further elaborate an order of magnitude does not have to be positive. It can be negative as well.

Gottaluvgoogle.... here Wiki says it way better than any one person could ever say it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_magnitude

Best regards,
Max

[platinum]

I always thought "order of magnitude" was an approximation that meant "way more".



-Jonathan

[Banthai]

is this a group buy

if anyone here has any "magintude" going cheap ..... i would like to "Order" some as soon as possible ...

but seller must provide suitable container and please .... i need new and sealed .... not used

all the billy best ... karl

[danielbriggs]

is this a group buy

if anyone here has any "magintude" going cheap ..... i would like to "Order" some as soon as possible ...

but seller must provide suitable container and please .... i need new and sealed .... not used

all the billy best ... karl

Karl,
This should do; a whole 6 month supply to keep you going!
There is a price break for 10+ units.

"A magnesium calmer for horses and ponies"

[allthatwhichis]

I always thought it was a power of "2", or squared.

[Banthai]

daniel said

"A magnesium calmer for horses and ponies"

seeing that my missus says i have a Donkeys Cock ...

i think that taking this would be like taking "anti-Viagra"

and allthat .... yes my Cock is the power of 2 squared ....

i hope i dont have to post the picture of my rather large Cock on these forums again .......



ok ..... here it is http://banthai.com/images/karlscock.jpg


all the billy best

Karl

[buffo]

An order of magnitude is almost *always* a power of ten. There are very few (limited) uses where it means anything else, and you are unlikely to ever encounter them.

About the only one I can think of that you might run into is audio, and in that case the question you need to ask is simply "are we talking about an order of magnitude change in input power or an order of magnitude change in sound pressure levels?". If the change is in spl, then you're dealing with decibels, and that scale is already logarithmic, making an order of magnitude change a much more significant event.

Bottom line, Marc - if someone is talking about a laser and they want an order of magnitude more (or less) power, they want 10 times more (or less) power.

Adam

[LesioQ]

There's also an astronomical 'magnitudo' which means the star is 2.5x brighter.

Piotr.K