Petition to Establish "Hella" as the SI Prefix for 10^27; what do you think?

Austin Sendek, a student at UC Davis is petitioning for popular Nor Cal word "Hella" to become the next Prefix for 10^27. It's actually been getting some press coverage; FOX News covered the story here, CNN did so here, and the New York Times discussed the movement here.

Do you agree? What do you think?

If you want to discuss the word "Hella" and not this specific topic regarding use of the word, we already have a question which focuses on the word being used in everyday context here.

His message from the Facebook fan page.

To Whom It May Concern:

For all intents and purposes, the SI prefix system has served the scientific community extremely well since its inception. However, we believe there is one significant flaw in the system which demands immediate attention.

As you know, the largest number with a designated SI prefix is 10^24, which carries the name "yotta-". However, in our world of increasing physical awareness and experimental precision, this number is no longer a satisfactory "upper bound" in scientific nomenclature. The analysis of many physical phenomena reveals natural quantities in excess of 27 orders of magnitude, a number which is currently ignored by the SI system.

Designating a prefix for 10^27 is of critical importance for scientists in all fields. This number is significant in many crucial calculations, including the wattage of the sun, distances between galaxies, or the number of atoms in a large sample.

Addressing this issue presents an exciting opportunity. Since the SI system has traditionally adopted the last names of accomplished scientists for unit nomenclature, it follows that prefix designation should do the same. From this tradition comes the chance for the SI system to use nomenclature to honor a constantly overlooked scientific contributor: Northern California.

Northern California is home to many influential research institutions, including the University of California, Davis, the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Countless contributions to science have been made by these and other local schools; in fact, elements 93-103 were all discovered at UC Berkeley in a span of 21 years.

However, science isn't all that sets Northern California apart from the rest of the world. The area is also notorious for the creation and widespread usage of the English slang "hella," which typically means "very," or can refer to a large quantity (e.g. "there are hella stars out tonight").

Thus, we believe that the SI system can not only rectify their failing prefix system but also honor the scientific progress of Northern California by formally establishing "hella-" as the prefix for 10^27.

Under this designation, the complexity of high-magnitude nomenclature would be greatly reduced. For example, the number of atoms in 120 kg of carbon-12 would be simplified from 6,000 yottaatoms to 6 hellaatoms. Similarly, the sun (mass of 2.2 hellatons) would release energy at 0.3 hellawatts, rather than 300 yottawatts.

We believe the designation of the "hella-" prefix would have a positive impact on all parties involved, and thus warrants serious consideration. We thank you for your time.

Austin Sendek Movement Founder UC Davis Physics

List of current prefixes:

Factor Name

• 10^24 yotta
• 10^21 zetta
• 10^18 exa
• 10^15 peta
• 10^12 tera
• 10^9 giga
• 10^6 mega
• 10^3 kilo
• 10^2 hecto
• 10^1 deka
• 10^-1 deci
• 10^-2 centi
• 10^-3 milli
• 10^-6 micro
• 10^-9 nano
• 10^-12 pico
• 10^-15 femto
• 10^-18 atto
• 10^-21 zepto
• 10^-24 yocto