Metric System Part 1

The Metric System Is a system of measurement. Is also known as the “S.I. System”. (System International)

Metric System ssecondTime o Cdegrees celsiusTemperature LliterVolume ggramMass mmeterDistance Unit Symbol UnitQuantity

Prefixes ExampleMeans..SymbolPrefix cghundredthccenti- kmthousandkkilo- mLthousandthmmilli- every student should know…

Tools of Measurement graduated cylinder or beaker liter (L) Volume balancegram (g) Mass meterstick or ruler meter (m) Distance ToolUnit (unit symbol) Quantity

WHY USE METRIC?

Benefits of the Metric System: It uses the decimal system (10’s!) It is an International Standard. The units relate to each other.* *(More on this later!)

kilo, centi, milli Be able to give your answer using any of these prefixes! For example: A snowboard is –1.85 m or –185 cm or –1850 mm How do you do that?

Common Sense: 1. The Metric System prefixes work by multiples of 10. So, the answer must be found by just moving the decimal point. Some possible answers are: 15cm, 150 cm, 1500 cm, 0.15 cm, cm 2. Which of these are reasonable answers? Problem: How many centimeters is 1.5 meters? There are many ways to solve this problem. One way is

Does the measurement make sense? –1cm = width of a fingernail –1 g = mass of a push pin –1 mL = ~20 drops of water

Practice Guessing: 1.5 m = 12 cm = m = 0.8 m = cm m mm cm

Metric System Part 2

Metric System LliterVolume ggramMass mmeterDistance Unit Symbol UnitQuantity

kilo, centi, milli Be able to give your answer using any of these prefixes! For example: A snowboard is –1.85 m or –185 cm or –1850 mm How do you do that?

Practice Guessing: 1.5 m = 12 cm = m = 0.8 m = cm m mm cm

Metric Staircase. Move up a step (left): …decimal moves left Move down a step (right): …Decimal moves right centi base kilo milli c - centi base k - kilo m - milli d - deci da - deca h - hecto (no prefix) - just meter, liter, or gram

Practice 1500 cm = m = 29,500 cm = 0.08 km = m mm km cm

Does the measurement make sense? –1cm = width of a fingernail –1 g = mass of a push pin –1 mL = ~20 drops of water

Metric System LliterVolume ggramMass mmeterDistance Unit Symbol UnitQuantity

What is mass? Mass is a measure of the amount of a substance. Mass is not weight Mass is not “how much space something takes up”; (that’s what volume is!)

Mass versus Weight Your mass is the same everywhere in the universe Your weight is less on the moon than it is on earth, because weight depends on gravity. linklink

Tools of Measurement graduated cylinder or beaker liter (L) Volume balancegram (g) Mass meterstick or ruler meter (m) Distance ToolUnit (unit symbol) Quantity

Practice Prefixes, Methods of Metric Conversion Prefixes are Universal –cg,cm,cL, etc. Review Methods: –Common sense –Metric Staircase Introduce Method: –Dimensional Analysis Practice with balances Practice with common sense conversion and then staircase conversion using grams and kilograms, etc.