A square mile (often abbreviated as sq mi or mi²) is a unit of area used primarily in the United States and a few other countries. It is defined as the area of a square with sides that each measure one mile in length. One square mile is equal to 640 acres.
In terms of the International System of Units (SI), one square mile is approximately equal to 2.58999 square kilometers (km²).
To provide some perspective, a square mile is commonly used to describe land areas within cities, counties, and states in the United States. It's a convenient unit for measuring larger land areas, such as the size of cities or counties.
A square mil (abbreviated as sq mil or mil²) is a unit of area measurement used primarily in the United States for very small areas, especially in the context of electrical engineering and wire gauge measurements. One square mil is equal to one square thousandth of an inch or one square mil (0.000001 square inches).
In terms of modern metric units, one square mil is approximately equal to 6.4516 square micrometers (µm²) because there are 25.4 micrometers in one thousandth of an inch (1 mil).
Square mils are often used when specifying the cross-sectional area of wires, particularly in electrical and electronic engineering. For example, the American Wire Gauge (AWG) system uses square mils to represent the cross-sectional area of wires, with smaller wire sizes having fewer square mils, and larger wire sizes having more square mils.