Talk:zeptomole

Discussion copied from Information Desk

The unit multiple zeptomole forwards to Appendix:SI units whereas the less widely used zeptogram and zeptosecond have stand alone pages (as does the abbreviation zmol). What are the criteria for inclusion for unit multiples? --Kkmurray 20:03, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

They're included if attestable. -- Liliana • 20:10, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

... and zeptomole is attestable, of course, as a countable number of atoms or molecules. Can you supply a good definition (other than 10^-21 of a mole)? Dbfirs 19:49, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

The definition that you give seems to be both accurate and precise to me. There are hundreds of hits for the term on Google books, and only about 10% of them are mentions. SemperBlotto 20:03, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

The reason that we have inconsistent coverage of these is that they were not created in a systematic way. Individual entries were created by individual editors, including some for terms that were not attestable outside of lists of mentions. Eventually we had some discussions on the topic that resulted in the decision to soft-redirect the rest to an appendix. The appendix contains information that should allow any person to determine the meaning of any SI prefix and unit combination, but we may still have entries for those common enough to meet the CFI. Therefore, if zeptomole meets the CFI it should have an entry rather than a soft redirect, and any editor is welcome to create that entry. Conversely, if zeptogram or zeptosecond is unattestable, they should be redirected to the appendix. bd2412 T 16:05, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

I've created an entry. Please adjust it as you think necessary. Dbfirs 11:30, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Deletion discussion

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zeptomole

Rfv-sense: Loosely, a small amount of a substance, especially a countable number of atoms or molecules.

I believe that Any SI or other exact unit can be used in approximations, like in "I got a great catch with many fish in the ten-pound range". In order to justify this sense, quotes are required to show that zeptomole is used more liberally than units in general. --Hekaheka (talk) 09:03, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I don't believe the word is used in that way. The current word-of-the-day definition is just plain wrong. SemperBlotto (talk) 09:06, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

I did find cites, a year ago, to show that the informal usage is more common than the precise SI unit. I should have added them at the time. I'll search again when I can, though many usages are ambiguous. Alternatively, we could amalgamate the separate senses if that would be preferable. Dbfirs 16:42, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

• Rfv failed: no citations provided for the sense. --Dan Polansky (talk) 17:49, 21 August 2013 (UTC)