In my experience, it is most often used in an inexact, non-scientific sense, to mean "quite a lot."

Thank you for the input!

To increase or reduce by an order of magnitude; in a decimal system: multiply or divide by ten. It is sometimes used (inaccurately) to mean "a lot". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/order-of-magnitude https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/order-of-magnitude