ToolsHeaven.net

Femtoliter

What Is Femtoliter?

A femtoliter is a very small unit for measuring volume. It tells us how much space a tiny amount of liquid takes up, especially in cells and other microscopic things.

It is part of the metric system, the same system that uses liter, milliliter, and microliter, but it is much smaller than all of those.

Definition

A femtoliter is a unit of volume equal to one quadrillionth of a liter.

  • Written with numbers, 1 femtoliter = 0.000000000000001 liter.
  • In scientific form, 1 femtoliter = 10−15 liter.
  • It is the same volume as a tiny cube that is 1 micrometer long on each edge.

Because it is so small, this unit is used to measure volumes inside cells, blood, and other microscopic samples.

History / Origin

The femtoliter comes from the metric system, which is based on powers of ten. The word is built from the prefix femto and the base unit liter.

  • The prefix femto was officially added to the International System of Units in the 1960s.
  • Femto means 10−15, or one part out of 1 000 000 000 000 000.
  • The prefix name comes from a word that means “fifteen”, because the power of ten is minus fifteen.

As science tools became able to measure smaller and smaller amounts, scientists needed names for these tiny volumes. The femtoliter became useful in modern biology, chemistry, and medical testing.

Symbol & Abbreviation

The standard symbol for femtoliter is:

  • fL

Here is what each part means:

  • f is the prefix femto, meaning 10−15.
  • L is the symbol for liter, the basic unit of volume in the metric system for liquids.

So whenever you see fL on lab reports or in science books, it means femtoliter.

Current Use Around the World

The femtoliter is used in many science and medical fields, especially where extremely small volumes matter.

Common uses include:

  • Medicine and blood tests: Lab reports often show red blood cell size in femtoliters. For example, mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is usually measured in fL.
  • Cell biology: Scientists describe the volume of cells, parts of cells, and droplets inside cells using femtoliters.
  • Microfluidics: In tiny devices that move very small drops of liquid, volumes can be around a few femtoliters.
  • Chemistry and physics: Experiments with very small samples or particles sometimes use femtoliters to express volume.

Although everyday life uses liters and milliliters, researchers, hospitals, and laboratories around the world regularly use femtoliters for very small scale work.

Example Conversions

Here are some simple conversions to help you see how small a femtoliter is compared with other metric units:

  • 1 fL = 0.000000000000001 L = 10−15 L
  • 1 fL = 0.000000000001 mL = 10−12 mL
  • 1 fL = 0.000000001 microliter = 10−9 microliter
  • 1 fL = 0.000001 nanoliter = 10−6 nanoliter
  • 1 fL = 0.001 picoliter = 10−3 picoliter

You can also look at it the other way around:

  • 1 picoliter (pL) = 1 000 fL
  • 1 nanoliter (nL) = 1 000 000 fL
  • 1 microliter (µL) = 1 000 000 000 fL
  • 1 milliliter (mL) = 1 000 000 000 000 fL
  • 1 liter (L) = 1 000 000 000 000 000 fL

Geometric view:

  • 1 fL = 0.000000000000000001 cubic meter = 10−18 m3
  • 1 fL is the same as the volume of a cube that is 1 micrometer long, 1 micrometer wide, and 1 micrometer high.

Example with blood cells:

  • A typical red blood cell has a volume of about 80 to 100 fL.

Femtoliter is closely related to other metric volume units. From largest to smallest, some common ones are:

  • Liter (L): Basic metric unit for liquid volume, used for bottles and containers.
  • Milliliter (mL): 1 mL = 0.001 L. Used for medicine doses and small containers.
  • Microliter (µL): 1 µL = 0.000001 L. Used in lab pipettes for small samples.
  • Nanoliter (nL): 1 nL = 10−9 L. Used for very tiny drops in microfluidics.
  • Picoliter (pL): 1 pL = 10−12 L. Used for inkjet printer drops and tiny lab volumes.
  • Femtoliter (fL): 1 fL = 10−15 L. Used for cell sizes and ultra small volumes.
  • Attoliter (aL): 1 aL = 10−18 L. Even smaller, used in some advanced research.

All of these units are part of the same metric system, so you can move between them by shifting the decimal point by powers of ten.

FAQs

What is a femtoliter in simple words?

A femtoliter is an extremely tiny amount of liquid, so small that you would find it inside single cells or in very small lab samples, not in everyday objects.

How small is a femtoliter compared to a milliliter?

One milliliter is one trillion times larger than one femtoliter. That means 1 mL = 1 000 000 000 000 fL.

What is the symbol for femtoliter?

The symbol for femtoliter is fL, with a lowercase f and an uppercase L.

Where is femtoliter used in medicine?

In medicine, femtoliters are mainly used in blood tests. For example, the average size of your red blood cells, called MCV on test reports, is measured in fL.

Is femtoliter an SI unit?

Femtoliter uses the SI prefix femto, and liter is accepted for use with the International System of Units. So fL is an accepted metric unit for very small volumes.

How can I convert femtoliters to liters?

To change femtoliters into liters, divide the number by 1 000 000 000 000 000. For example, 500 fL = 500 ÷ 1 000 000 000 000 000 = 0.0000000000005 L.

How big is a volume of 1 femtoliter in size terms?

One femtoliter is about the same as the volume of a tiny cube with each side 1 micrometer long, which is much smaller than the width of a human hair.

Why do scientists not just use liters for everything?

Liters are too large for very small samples. Using femtoliters makes numbers easier to write and understand when dealing with cells and microscopic drops.

Share the Information: