The Metric System of Measurement Information The metric

The Metric System of Measurement

*Information • The metric system of measurement is based on the number “ten” (10). • We, the United States, use the English system which is not based on much of anything except history which is not very practical.

*Metric System Units • Meter – measures length • Liter – measures volume (the amount of space an object occupies) • Gram – measures mass (amount of matter in an object) –weight (amount of gravitational pull exerted on an object)

*Metric System Chart Kilo- k Hecto Deka- Meter Deci- Centi- Milli. Liter Gram h da m, l, g d c m

*Prefixes • The prefixes in the metric chart are placed in front of the root words gram, meter or liter. • For example: kiloliter; kilogram; hectogram; milligram

*How to Convert • When changing or converting prefixes, or one unit to another, you only need to move the decimal point. • Example of moving the decimal point to the right: • 1 kilometer (km) = ____ hectometer (hm) • Solution: move decimal point one place to the right because in the metric chart hecto is one to the right of kilo. • Answer: 10 hm

* • Example of moving the decimal point to the left: • 1 millimeter (mm) = ___ centimeter (cm) • Solution: move the decimal point one place to the left because in the metric chart centi is one place to the left of milli • Answer: 0. 1 cm

*Other Examples • A. 1 mm = ____ m • Solution: move the decimal point three places to the left because in the metric chart, meter is three places to the left of milli. • Answer: 0. 001 m

* • B. 1 km = ______ dm • Solution: move the decimal point four places to the right because in the metric chart, deci is four places to the right of kilo. • Answer: 10, 000. 0 dm

*Practice Metric Conversions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1 km = _____ dm 2 km = _____ cm 1 km = _____ mm 1 kg = _____ dag 10 kl = _____ hl 0. 2 hg = ____ g 7. 1 mm = ___dam 8. 3 mm = ___hm 9. 1 mg = ___cg 10. 10 ml = ___dl 11. 7 m = ___hm 12. 5 hg = ___kg