The picometre is a unit of length and is a multiple of the SI unit metre. It uses the symbol pm.
It represents one trillionth of a metre, or one hundredth of an Ångström.
Because the picometre is so small, its use is restricted almost entirely to chemistry, quantum physics and particle physics. Atoms are typically 62 pm and 520 pm.
LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) is a probe planned for launch in 2034 to detect gravitational waves in space. Its measures these displacements with an accuracy of up to 20 pm over a distance of 2,500,000,000 m.
The fermis is a unit of length in the non-SI metric system and uses the symbol fm.
One fermi is equal to 1×10−15m or 3.9370×10−14 in.
It is used to measure nuclear distances and was named after the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi (1901–1954). It has now been replaced with the SI-derived term femtometre.