The Metric System of Measurement

*Information The metric system of measurement is based on the number “ten” (10). We, the United States, use the English system which is not based on much of anything except history which is not very practical.

*Metric System Units Meter – measures length Liter – measures volume (the amount of space an object occupies) Gram – measures mass (amount of matter in an object) –weight (amount of gravitational pull exerted on an object)

*Metric System Chart Kilo-HectoDeka-Meter Liter Gram Deci-Centi-Milli- k h dam, l, g d c m

*Prefixes The prefixes in the metric chart are placed in front of the root words gram, meter or liter. For example: kiloliter; kilogram; hectogram; milligram

*How to Convert When changing or converting prefixes, or one unit to another, you only need to move the decimal point. Example of moving the decimal point to the right: 1 kilometer (km) = ____ hectometer (hm) Solution: move decimal point one place to the right because in the metric chart hecto is one to the right of kilo. Answer: 10 hm

* Example of moving the decimal point to the left: 1 millimeter (mm) = ___ centimeter (cm) Solution: move the decimal point one place to the left because in the metric chart centi is one place to the left of milli Answer: 0.1 cm

*Other Examples A. 1 mm = ____ m Solution: move the decimal point three places to the left because in the metric chart, meter is three places to the left of milli. Answer: m

* B. 1 km = ______ dm Solution: move the decimal point four places to the right because in the metric chart, deci is four places to the right of kilo. Answer: 10,000.0 dm

*Practice Metric Conversions 1.1 km = _____ dm7. 1 mm = ___dam 2.2 km = _____ cm8. 3mm = ___hm 3.1 km = _____ mm9. 1 mg = ___cg 4.1 kg = _____ dag10. 10ml = ___dl 5.10 kl = _____ hl11. 7 m = ___hm hg = ____ g12. 5 hg = ___kg