A square millimeter (often abbreviated as mm²) is a unit of area in the International System of Units (SI). It represents a square with sides that each measure 1 millimeter (mm) in length.
One square millimeter is equal to 0.000001 square meters (m²) because there are 1,000 millimeters in a meter, and when you square that length, you get 0.001 square meters. Alternatively, you can express it as 1 square meter being equal to 1,000,000 square millimeters.
To visualize the size of a square millimeter, you can think of an extremely small square with sides that are each 1 millimeter long. It is a minuscule unit of area and is often used for measuring very tiny objects or areas, especially in scientific and engineering applications where precision is crucial.
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.