A Proposal for a New Unit for Measuring High Vacuum
I came across a post on Gab about making a vacuum wax (Faraday Wax) and got sidetracked looking into things high vacuum. I haven’t a clue why, but while looking at a paper on vacuum measurement, saw quantities everywhere expressed as power of ten (10^-5 torr) everywhere and was struck by how clumsy this is. I don’t have any practical experience with high vacuum, just the textbook knowledge I got in college and have pieced together from the internet, but I do have experience with a unit where something similar takes place if it weren’t used: the decibel.
| Decibel | Bel |
|---|---|
| 100 dB | 10,000,000,000 |
| 50 dB | 100,000 |
| 0 dB | 1 |
| -20 dB | 0.01 |
| -50 dB | 0.00001 (10^-5) |
| -100 dB | 0.0000000001 (10^-10) |
Applying the same to the unit for vacuum pressure (torr), we get:
| Decitorr | Torr | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 28.8 dT | 760 torr | Standard Atmospheric Pressure |
| -30.0 dT to -90 dT | 10^-3 to 10^-9 torr | High Vacuum range |
| -90 dT to -120 dT | 10^-9 to 10^-12 torr | Ultra High Vacuum range |
| < -120 dT | < 10^-12 torr | Extremely High Vacuum |
| -60 dT to -165.2 dT | 10^-6 to 3x10^-17 torr | Outer Space |