Measurement

Must have a standard. A standard is an exact quantity people agree to use for comparison. A standard means two people using the same object should get close to the same results.

Standards of the past

People used to use parts of their body to determine the length of something. The standard would be a part of the kings anatomy. The standard yard was the distance from the kings nose to his outstretched arm

People would use their feet to measure distance

This is how the term foot came about. Today the standard foot in the English system is 12 inches = 1 foot

The English system is very confusing because it has so many different values

The United States is the only major industrialized country that has not committed to converting to the metric system.

Scientists give the English system the thumbs down

Scientists needed an exact and uniform system of weights and measurements

How did the metric system come about?

During the18th century scientists measured the distance from the earths equator to its North Pole and divided it into ten million parts. This is how they came up with the length of the standard meter.

The Meter
The standard for the meter is kept in a safe in France. The meter stick is a replica of that standard A meter is made up of 100 centimeters and 1000 millimeters

How the liter came about

Scientists needed a way to measure liquids so they took 10 cm and multiplied it by its length x width x height to come up with a standard for measuring volume The liter is the size of 10 cm(3) 10cm x 10 cm x 10 cm Length x Width x Height = Volume The liter is used to measure liquids

How the Gram came about

Scientists needed a standard to measure mass. Mass is the amount of matter in an object They decided to take one cubic centimeter of water and call it a gram

The Mistake
Two different groups of scientists were working on the calculations to send a probe to Mars. The American team did their calculations in the English standard and the other team did it in the metric system (OOPS!)

MARS

It cost the space

125 million dollars

program

It also cost the scientists a great deal of time to go back and correct the error.

Metric chart

Kilo means thousand (1000) Hecto means hundred (100) Deca means ten (10) Deci means one-tenth (1/10) Centi means one-hundredth (1/100) Milli means one-thousandth (1/1000)

Copy This Down

The Meter- Measures length/distance Length is the distance between two points The Liter Measures Volume Volume is how much space a liquid takes up The Gram- Measures mass Mass is how much matter is in an object

Meters

Meters measure length or distance One millimeter is about the thickness of a dime. One centimeter is about the width of a large paper clip

Meters

A meter is about the width of a doorway

A kilometer is about six city blocks or 10 football fields. 1.6 kilometers is about 1 mile

Gram

Grams are used to measure mass or the weight of an object.

A milligram weighs about as much as a grain of salt.

Grams

1 gram weighs about as much as a small paper clip.

1 kilogram weighs about as much as 6 apples or 2 pounds.

Liters

Liters measure liquids or capacity.

1 milliliter is about the amount of one drop 1 liter is half of a 2 liter bottle of Coke or other soda A kiloliter would be about 500 2-liter bottles of pop

To change from a larger unit to a smaller unit, you need to multiply.

1 km x 1000 = 1000 m 1 m x 100 = 100 cm 1 cm x 10 = 10mm

Place Values of Metric Prefixes

Move the decimal point to the right to multiply.

Thousandth

Hundredth

Thousand
km kL kg

Hundred
hm hL hg

Tenth

One
m L g

Ten dkm dkL dkg

dm dL dg

cm cL cg

mm mL mg

Place Values of Metric Prefixes

Thousandth Hundredth

Thousand
km kg kL

Hundred
hm hg hL

Tenth

One
m g L

Ten dkm dkg dkL

dm dg dL

cm cg cL

mm mg mL

To change from smaller units to larger units you divide by a power of ten.
1000mm 10 = 100cm 100cm 10 = 10dm 10dm 10 = 1m

Place Values of Metric Prefixes

Move the decimal point to the left to divide.

Thousandth

Hundredth

Thousand
km kL kg

Hundred
hm hL hg

Tenth

One
m L g

Ten dkm dkL dkg

dm dL dg

cm cL cg

mm mL mg

Place Values of Metric Prefixes

km kg kL
3km

hm hg hL
30hm

dkm dkg dkL

300dkm

m g L
3000m

dm dg dL
30000dm

cm cg cL
300000cm

mm mg mL
3000000mm

4L
12cm

Converting metric units

Copy these in your notes

kilo hecto deca UNIT deci centi milli (meter, gram or liter)

How the metric system works

kilo hecto deca UNIT deci centi milli (meter, gram or liter)

100cm = ___ m 100cm = 1.0 m 6.9mm = ___cm 6.9mm = .69 cm