1. Learn to Love the
Metric system!

2. Introduction Metric System
Common measuring system used in science and throughout the world

3. Why Bother?
Adopted to establish uniformity of units across the world

4. Why Bother? September 1999 Uh…oops NASA loses a $125,000,000
Mars orbiter
Metric versus
English
measurement
was the cause

5. Why Bother
NASA lost a $125 million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while the agency's team used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation, according to a review finding released Thursday. The navigation mishap killed the mission on a day when engineers had expected to celebrate the craft's entry into Mars' orbit. After a 286-day journey, the probe fired its engine on September 23 to push itself into orbit. The engine fired but the spacecraft came within 60 km (36 miles) of the planet -- about 100 km closer than planned and about 25 km (15 miles) beneath the level at which the it could function properly, mission members said.

6. Measurements of…
Length
Mass
Volume
Temperature
Time

7. Length Measures distance from one end to another Base Unit: Meter (m)
Compare: a bit longer than a yard

8. Example
You might say that the length of this classroom is 8 m.

9. Volume Measures the amount of space something occupies
Base Unit: Liter (L)
Visualize: a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi
Base Unit: Cubic meter (m3)
Visualize: a cube with sides of 1 m

10. Example
You might say that Mr. Moreau drank half of a liter of orange juice this morning to start his day off right.

11. Mass Measures how much matter something has Base Unit: Gram (g)
This is different than weight!
This is different than volume!
Base Unit: Gram (g)
Visualize: a $1 bill as a mass of about 1 g

12. Example
You might say that the pencil you are holding right now has a mass of about 20 g.

13. Temperature Measures how hot or cold something is Celsius scale
Base Unit: Degrees Celsius (°C)
Compare: water freezes at 0°C and boils at 100°C
Kelvin scale
Base Unit: Kelvins (K)

14. Example
It’s about 32°C outside one day, so one may get a bit sweaty…

15. Time Measures duration (how long something takes)
Base Unit: Second (s)
60 seconds in a minute
60 minutes in an hour

16. Example
It took Mr. Moreau about 30 seconds to achieve that amazing hair style he is sporting today.

17. Prefixes and Equalities
Symbol
Meaning
Numerical Value
One base unit =
kilo k
Thousand
1000
.001 kilo-units
hecto h
Hundred
100
.01 hecto-units
deka da
Ten 10
.1 deka-uints
(base unit)
1 base unit
deci d
Tenth .1
10 deci-units
centi c
Hundredth
.01
100 centi-units
milli m
Thousandth
.001
1000 milli-units
B I G 
 S M A L L

18. Converting
When converting from one unit to another unit, multiply by a conversion factor
Think of a conversion factor as a “special fraction”
Let’s practice…

19. Example
Convert 100 cm to m

20. Example
Convert 450 kg to g

21. Example
Convert 1 s to ms

22. Example
Convert 32 L to daL