METRICS

HOW THE STANDARDS WERE DETERMINED

FOR THE
METER, LITER, GRAM

PRINTING POWER POINTS

If you elect to print your power points, you can
do so in a format that wills save paper as
well as ink. If you go to print, you will notice
that you have options to print gray scale and
six slides to a page. I would suggest that
format.

WHY METRICS?
People have always measured things.
Originally, most measurements were
based upon body parts of kings. A cubit
was the distance from the elbow to the
tip of the finger. An inch was the length
of one digit of a finger. As kings
changed, units of measurement
changed. Eventually, scientists
convinced people that this was not the
best system of measurement.

TODAYS METRIC SYSTEM

Today, the metric system is based upon two

things:

The physical universe

(the earth).
Units of 10.

PREFIXES
The main prefixes that will be used for all the
measurements are as follows:
kilo, hecto, deka, Base Units, deci, centi, milli
1000, 100, 10, 1, 0.1, 0.01, 0.001
This can be remembered by the following
saying:
King Henry Died, Gulp, Drinking Chocolate Milk

THE METER
The basic unit of length in the metric system
is the Meter. It was defined in 1791

as one ten millionth of one polar

quadrant of the earth passing
thru Paris.
So the distance from the north pole to the
equator is 10,000,000 meters.

THE METER TODAY

Today scientists use a different
measurement. It is international defined
as the distance that a wavelength of
light travels in a specific time. It is a lot
more accurate, but basically it is still the
distance from the north pole to the
equator, which is 10,000,000 meters.

LITER
The liter is used to measure capacity. It is
defined as the volume of a cube that is
one tenth of a meter on each side, or a
cubic decimeter.
A liter then has 1000 cc since each side
is 10 cm. One cubic centimeter is
equivalent to one ml, so a liter also
equals 1000 ml.
The formula for calculating volume is:
Volume = length x width x height

Here you can see an example of a liter that is made

by using a cube 10 centimeters on a side. What ever
volume completely fills this container is by
definition a liter. Most containers are obviously
NOT boxes.

The Liter Continued

Since the liter is a cube with the
dimensions of 10 cm on a side, it means
that it contains 1000 cubic
centimeters:
(10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm) = 1000
cc

A liter is also equivalent to 1000 ml. This

means that one cubic centimeter is
equivalent to one milliliter.

PRACTICE PROBLEMS

Calculate the volume of an object in cc if it

has the following dimensions:

Height=3.6 hm
Width= 2.88 dm
Length= 56 m
Answer next slide.

First, convert all units into centimeters.

3.6 hm = 36,000 cm
2.88 dm = 28.8 cm
56 m = 5600 cm
Next multiply length x width x height.
(36,000 cm)(28.8 cm)(5600 cm) =
5,800,000,000 cc
Remember the units are cubic centimeters
since cm x cm x cm = cubic centimeters
or cc

ANSWER
The answer is 5,800,000 liters. Why?
Because the beauty of the metric system
means that 1 cubic cm = 1 mL
So, since there are 1000 mL in a liter, divide
the original number by 1000.

HOW MANY LITERS IS THIS?

(36,000 cm)(28.8 cm)(5600 cm) =
5,800,000,000 cc
Remember the units are cubic centimeters
since cm x cm x cm = cubic centimeters or cc

THE GRAM
The gram is the metric unit for mass. It is
defined as the mass of one cubic
centimeter of pure water at 4 degrees
C.

WHY 4O C?

Basically, because water is a unique liquid.

The density of water changes but it is at its
greatest density at 4 degrees C.

EQUIVALENCIES
What is significant about this is that there are
1000 cubic centimeters in a Liter. There are
also 1000 mL in a Liter. This means that if
you use pure water, that a liter of water
would equal a KILOGRAM.

So 1 mL = 1 cc = 1 gram

PRACTICE CONVERSION PROBLEMS

Kilo Hecto Deka
(k)

(h) (dk)

Liter
(d) (c)
Gram
1. 18 cm =_____________ hm
2. 0.83 dkg =___________ mg
3. 2.9 l = _____________ dkl
4. 0.18 kg =
41.3 cg =
+137.6 dg =

Answers next slide.

Meter Deci Centi Milli

g
g
g

(m)

ANSWERS TO PRACTICE PROBLEMS

1.
2.
3.
4.

0.0018 hm
8300 mg
.29 dkl
194.17 g