Tera-

Tera- (/ˈtɛrə/; symbol T) is a metric prefix denoting a factor of a short-scale trillion or long-scale billion (10¹² or 1000000000000).¹ It was adopted in the International System of Units (SI) in 1960. The prefix is derived from the Greek word τέρας (téras), meaning "monster".²

• 1 Tm² means one square terametre, or the size of a 1000000000000 m × 1000000000000 m square (10²⁴ m²), not 1000000000000 square metres (10¹² m²).
• 1 Tm³ means one cubic terametre, or the size of a 1000000000000 m × 1000000000000 m × 1000000000000 m cube (10³⁶ m³), not 1000000000000 cubic metres (10¹² m³)

In computing, tera- may sometimes refer to 2⁴⁰ (1024⁴ or 1099511627776) instead of 10¹², such as in data storage units like the terabyte (TB). The binary prefix tebi- (/ˈtɛbɪ-/; symbol Ti) has been adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to signify 2⁴⁰ and avoid this ambiguity.³ JEDEC however still uses tera- for 2⁴⁰ in its memory standards.⁴

• terabyte (TB): unit of digital storage used in hard disk drives and solid-state drives.
  • terabytes written (TBW), a standard for SSD reliability metrics by JEDEC.
• terabit (Tbit): common in data transmission rates.
• teraFLOPS (TFLOPS): used to describe performance in supercomputers and graphics processing units (GPUs).
  • terascale computing

• terahertz (THz): used to describe electromagnetic radiation with frequencies between microwave and infrared ranges, as in:
  • terahertz laser
  • terahertz metamaterial
  • terahertz radiation
    • terahertz spectroscopy
    • terahertz tomography
    • terahertz nondestructive evaluation

• terajoule (TJ): used to express energy yields of large events, such as nuclear explosions or earthquakes.
• terawatt (TW): used in measuring global electrical generation and consumption.
  • Worldwide installed solar capacity reached several terawatts in 2022.⁵
  • Peak power of a 30-microsecond lightning strike.
• terawatt-hour (TW⋅h or TWh): common unit for large-scale electrical energy production or consumption.