millivoltit

Millivolt is a unit of electric potential difference, or voltage, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one-thousandth of a volt. The prefix "milli-" signifies a factor of 10⁻³, meaning that one millivolt is equivalent to 0.001 volts. The symbol for millivolt is mV.

Voltages are often measured in millivolts in applications where the electrical potential is small. For example, in electronics, the output signals from many sensors, such as thermocouples or strain gauges, are typically in the millivolt range. Similarly, the signal levels in some audio circuits and the voltage drops across small resistors are also commonly expressed in millivolts. The use of millivolts provides a more convenient and practical way to represent these smaller voltage values, avoiding the need for multiple decimal places when working with volts.

The concept of millivolts is directly derived from the definition of the volt, which is the SI unit for electric potential. The volt is defined as the electric potential difference between two points of a conductor when an electric current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power between those points. Therefore, a millivolt is simply a smaller fraction of this fundamental unit, allowing for finer measurement and expression of electrical potential in various scientific and engineering disciplines.