Converting Units (W/cm^2 to mW/mm^2)

[Havik]

Hey guys, I'm not entirely sure what forum this would go in so I put it in here because its above basic stuff but its not too difficult. I just struggle to get my head around it.

I have a value in watts per cm squared and want to convert it into milliwatts per millimeter squared.

The value is this: 0.00002628 w/cm^s

Do I just 'take it apart' and convert each part? So watts -> milliwatts is 10^-3, so move it up 3 places. And then cm^2 -> mm^2 is 100, so move it up 2 places?

Ending up with 2.628 mW/mm^2?

I'm not sure if that is the correct way to go about it at all. Its probably fairly simple and I'm just over thinking it but, thought it best to check!

Thanks :smile:

 

[Deleted member 4993]

Hey guys, I'm not entirely sure what forum this would go in so I put it in here because its above basic stuff but its not too difficult. I just struggle to get my head around it.

I have a value in watts per cm squared and want to convert it into milliwatts per millimeter squared.

The value is this: 0.00002628 w/cm^s (?)

Do I just 'take it apart' and convert each part? So watts -> milliwatts is 10^-3, so move it up 3 places. And then cm^2 -> mm^2 is 100, so move it up 2 places?

Ending up with 2.628 mW/mm^2?

I'm not sure if that is the correct way to go about it at all. Its probably fairly simple and I'm just over thinking it but, thought it best to check!

Thanks :smile:

Correct...

 

[Ishuda]

Hey guys, I'm not entirely sure what forum this would go in so I put it in here because its above basic stuff but its not too difficult. I just struggle to get my head around it.

I have a value in watts per cm squared and want to convert it into milliwatts per millimeter squared.

The value is this: 0.00002628 w/cm^s

Do I just 'take it apart' and convert each part? So watts -> milliwatts is 10^-3, so move it up 3 places. And then cm^2 -> mm^2 is 100, so move it up 2 places? <<<===

Ending up with 2.628 mW/mm^2?

I'm not sure if that is the correct way to go about it at all. Its probably fairly simple and I'm just over thinking it but, thought it best to check!

Thanks :smile:

You have the right idea but applied it incorrectly. Since the cm² is in the denominator, move it back 2 places:
1 w = 1000 mw
1 cm = 10 mm
So
\(\displaystyle a \frac{w}{cm^2}\, =\, a \frac{1000\, mw}{(10\, mm)^2}\)
\(\displaystyle =\, a \frac{1000\, mw}{100\, mm^2}\, =\, 10\, a\, \frac{mw}{mm^2}\)