The metric system
measurement You must have a standard A standard is an exact quantity people agree to use for comparison. A standard means two people using the same object should get close to the same results.
Standards of the past People used to use parts of their body to determine the length of something. The standard would be a part of the king’s anatomy. The standard yard was the distance from the king’s nose to his outstretched arm.
People would use their feet to measure distance This is how the term “foot” came about. Today the standard “foot” in the English system is 12 inches
The English system is confusing because it has so many different values America is the only country in the world to still use the old, English system.
Scientists give the English system a thumbs down Scientists needed an exact, and uniform system of weights and measurements….hence the metric system! During the 18th century, scientists measured the distance from the Earth’s equator to it’s North Pole, then divided it into ten million parts. This is how they came up with the length of the standard meter.
The Meter The standard for the meter is kept in a safe in France. The meter stick is a replica of the standard. A meter is made up of 100 centimeters and 1000 millimeters.
The liter Scientists took 10 cm and multiplied it by it’s length x width x height to come up with a standard for measuring volume. The liter is the size of 10 cm cubed The liter is used to measure liquid.
The Gram Scientists needed a standard to measure MASS (weight) Mass is the amount of MATTER in an object. They decided to take one cubic centimeter of water and call it a gram.
Metric prefixes MILLI (1/1000) CENTI (1/100) DECI (1/10) DECA (10) HECTO (100) KILO (1000)