hehtopascal

Hehtopascal is a coined, nonstandard unit of pressure that appears primarily in informal discussions about measurement units and in fictional or thought-experiment contexts. It is not recognized by the International System of Units (SI) or by major standardization bodies, and there is no universally accepted value for the unit. In practice, any use of the term defines its magnitude locally, by author or community, for the sake of a calculation or narrative.

The name seems to be a playful blend that resembles the SI prefix system, combining the word pascal with a made-up prefix “heh-.” It is distinct from the real hectopascal (hPa), which equals 100 pascals.

Origins of the term are mainly found in online forums, educational thought experiments, and speculative fiction. In such contexts, hehtopascal is used to illustrate the potential ambiguity of introducing new units or prefixes, or simply to serve as a naming exercise. In formal technical writing, its use is discouraged because it can lead to misinterpretation and data incompatibility.

Example definitions vary: one user may define 1 hehtopascal as 10^4 pascals (10 kilopascals) for a given scenario, while another might choose a different scale. The lack of standardization means that clear, explicit definitions are essential whenever the term is employed. See also hectopascal, pascal, and non-SI units.