Office Hours Tue: 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM Wed: 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM & 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM Thr: 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM Course Syllabus can be found at: http://www.wx4sno.com/portfolio/BSU/Fall_2011/ This lecture will be posted AFTER class at: http://www.wx4sno.com/portfolio/BSU/Fall_2011/Lectures/
Chapter 1 Metric Conversions
Types of Conversions Two major sets of units English system Feet, miles, Fahrenheit, etc. Used primarily in the U.S. among the public population Metric system Known as the Systeme International or S.I. system Meters, kilometers, Celsius, etc. World-adopted Entire scientific community uses it!
English to S.I.
S.I. to English
Rounding Always round your answer to the least precise measurement given. e.g. 5.7 cm ÷ 1.75 min = 3.2571429 cm/min = 3.3 cm/min What about rounding up or down?
Rounding, cont. If the first digit to be dropped is less than 5, then the preceding digit is unchanged. If the first digit to be dropped is greater than 5, the preceding digit is rounded up. e.g. 1020.63 becomes? 1020.6 25.85 becomes? 25.9
Sample Problems Convert the following metric measurements to English units using exact conversion factors. Round answers to one decimal place. 299,792,458 meters per second ? feet per second -273.15 °C ? °F 6,356.766 kilometers ? Miles? 299,792,458 m/s is the speed of light -273.15 C is absolute zero 6,356.766 km is the average radius of Earth
Chapter 2 Location
Latitude & Longitude Locations on earth can be pin-pointed using a grid system of angular measures known as latitude and longitude Latitude: location north or south of equator Lines of latitude are called parallels 1° latitude = 111 km Longitude: location east or west of prime meridian Lines of longitude are called meridians 1° longitude = function of latitude, varies Use formula: 1° longitude = cos(latitude) x 111 km
Latitude & Longitude, cont. The prime meridian is located in Greenwich, England at the Royal Observatory. This is also the starting location of UTC or GMT time measurements used by meteorologists and other scientists…more on this next week! Locations east of the prime meridian are considered “degrees east longitude,” while locations west of the prime meridian are called “degrees west longitude.”
Latitude & Longitude, cont. From 0° to 90° From 0° to 180°
Where is 78°S, 106°E Vostok Station, Antarctica. Coldest temp ever recorded: 21 Jul 2983, -128.6°F
Where is 32°N, 13°E Al Aziziyah, Libya Hottest temp ever recorded: 13 Sept 1922, 136°F
Latitude & Longitude, cont. More exact measurements of latitude and longitude are sometimes required. Fractions of degrees in minutes and seconds 1 ° = 60’ (one degree equals sixty minutes) 1’ = 60” (one minute equals sixty seconds) e.g. 40° 11′ 36″ N, 85° 23′ 17″ W
Where is 46° 24’ 30” N, 105° 40’ 24” W
Where is 46° 24’ 30” N, 105° 40’ 24” W Miles City, Montana Largest snowflake ever observed: 28 Jan 1887, 15” in diameter.