See below for student version

Place the following numbers on a number line.

3
3/10
3 x 101
0.03
3 x 10-2

5 x 101
0.05
5 x 10-2

6
3/5
6 x 101
0.06
6 x 10-2

300
3 x 103
3 x 105
30,000
3 x 106

3
3/10
3 x 101
0.03
3 x 10-2

Have materials available for students: metersticks, tape, string, graph

paper, tickertape, scratch paper.
Give general students all the same numbers
Give honors students a different set per group.
For next page, see p 36 of Physics Matters. Remember to give them
missing numbers at end. (femto, tera, etc)
For honors, its page 12, but gives the answer
Use sort cards on days 2 and 3 as review.
Metric System Prefixes

http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/prefixes.html

For list of prefixes and meaning, as well as specifics on SI standards.

Metric System Prefixes

Power of 10

Metric Prefix

Symbol

Example

1015
1012
109
106
103
102
101
100

Root or base unit

10-1
10-2
10-3
10-6
10-9
10-12
10-15

1
m
1 fm= 1,000 ,000 ,000 ,000 ,000

Metric Conversions
5,324 sec = ___________ ksec

Mass = gram (g)

.00324 m = ___________ mm

Distance = meter (m)

75,200 kg = ___________ Mg

Volume = Liter (L)

.0000541 cm = __________ km

Time = second (sec)

.285 cL = _________ L
723,000 msec = _________ sec
32,800 ng = _________ g
.00000342 ML = _________ L
5.21 X 104 m = _________ cm
2.79 X 10-7 g = _________ m
9.03 X 108 csec = _________ ksec
4.73 X 10-11 L = _________ nL
5,600 pm = ___________ m
.00216 Gsec = _________Msec
10-13 TL = ___________ L
1016 g = ___________ Mg

femto-

pico-

nano-

micro-

milli-

centi-

deci-

kilo-

mega-

giga-

tera-

peta-

femto-

pico-

nano-

micro-

milli-

centi-

deci-

kilo-

mega-

giga-

tera-

peta-

Place the following numbers on a number line:

3
3 x 10

3/10
0.03

3 x 10

Place the following numbers on a number line:

-2

3 x 10

3 x 101

0.03

3/10
3

Place the following numbers on a number line:

0.03
3 x 101

3/10
3

3 x 10-2

Place the following numbers on a number line:

3
3 x 10-2

3/100
0.3

3 x 101

-2

Place the following numbers on a number line:

5
5 x 10

0.05

5 x 10

-2

Place the following numbers on a number line:

-2

6 x 10

6 x 101

0.06

3/5

Place the following numbers on a number line:

3

3 x 10

300

30,000

3 x 105
3 x 106

Place the following numbers on a number line:

4
4 x 10-2

4/100
0.4

4 x 101

Practice websites
http://www.ieer.org/clssroom/scinote.html
Rational for and explanation of scientific notation
http://janus.astro.umd.edu/cgi-bin/astro/scinote.pl
practice with scientific notation, and operations with numbers in scientific notation

Metric conversions
http://www.rockwood.k12.mo.us/crestview/Henige/Metric
%20%20Measure/Introduction/SimpleMetricConv.htm

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/kenny/papers/units.html
dimensional analysis tutorial
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/category_g_4_t_4.html
practice with dimensional analysis

Significant figures
http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/applist/sigfig/sig.htm

Name_________________________________
Period______________Date_______________

Review of Scientific Notation

Scientific notation provides a place to hold the zeroes that come after a whole number or before a
fraction. The number 100,000,000 for example, takes up a lot of room and takes time to write out, while
108 is much more efficient.
Though we think of zero as having no value, zeroes can make a number much bigger or smaller. Think
about the difference between 10 dollars and 100 dollars. Even one zero can make a big difference in the
value of the number. In the same way, 0.1 (one-tenth) of the US military budget is much more than 0.01
(one-hundredth) of the budget.
The small number to the right of the 10 in scientific notation is called the exponent. Note that a negative
exponent indicates that the number is a fraction (less than one).

Practice With Scientific Notation

Write out the decimal equivalent (regular form) of the following numbers that are in scientific notation.
Section

A:

Model:

101

10

1)

102

_______________

4)

10-2

_________________

2)

104

_______________

5)

10-5

_________________

107 =

_______________

6)

100

3)

Section B:

Model:

2 x 102

200

__________________

7)

3 x 102

_________________

10)

6 x 10-3

8)

7 x 104

_________________

11)

900 x 10-2

______________

9)

2.4 x 103

12)

4 x 10-6

_________________

Section C:
Model:

_______________

________________

Now convert from decimal form into scientific notation.

1,000 = 103

13)

10

_____________________

16)

0.1

14)

100 =

_____________________

17)

0.0001

15)

100,000,000 = ______________

18)

__________________

_______________________

2 x 103

Model:

19)

400

____________________

22)

0.005 =

20)

60,000

__________________

23)

0.0034

21)

750,000

_________________

24)

0.06457

_____________________

Section D:
=

2,000

____________________
=

__________________
=

_________________

On the back, create a number line that shows the following numbers:

0.5

5 x 10-3

5/100

0.1

Metric Conversions
COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING:
1. 0.01 grams = 1 centigram
2. 1,000,000,000 liters = 1 ________ liter
3. 0.000001 meter ___________________
4. 1,000 liters _______________________
5. 0.001 meter ______________________
6. 1,000,000 grams ________________________
COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING:
1. 1 milliliter = 0.001 liter = 1x10-3 liter
2. 1 kilometer ___________ liters = ____________ liters
3. 15 centimeters ______________ = ________________
4. 40 kilometers_______________= ________________
5. 1 nanometer ________________= ________________
6. 60 kiloseconds_________________= ________________
7. 45 microfarads_______________= ________________
CONVERT THE FOLLOWING:
1. 1 centimeter = 0.01 meter
2. 1 nanogram = ______________________ centigrams
3. 1 milliliter = ______________________ liter
4. 1 kilogram = _____________________ megagram
5. 1 megasecond = _____________________ centiseconds
6. 1 kilowatt = ______________________ centiwatts
7. 1 microfarad = _____________________ farad
COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES:
1. To convert grams to kilograms, move the decimal 3 places to the left.
2.

To convert centimeters to meters, move the decimal ____ places to the _________.

3.

To convert microfarads (F) to Farads, move the decimal ____ places to the ______.

4.

To convert liters to picoliters, move the decimal ____ places to the _______.

5.

To convert millimeters to kilometers, move the decimal ____ places to the _______.

6.

To convert kilograms to grams, move the decimal _____ places to the ________.

If the unit is getting bigger (centimeters to meters), the number is getting ____________, and the
decimal is moved to the ________.
If the unit is getting smaller (kilograms to grams), the number is getting ____________, and the decimal
is moved to the ________.