The document discusses the differences between the metric and standard/English systems of measurement. The metric system uses a base-10 system which makes conversions easier compared to the base-12 English system. Most countries use the metric system, with the only other country still using English being Myanmar. While the US still uses English measurements for convenience and cost reasons, the metric system is easier to use and is the universal standard for science. The document then explains the metric system prefixes and how to use them to convert between different metric units of measurement.

1. THE METRIC SYSTEM!!
The universal language of science

2. What is the difference
between metric and standard
(English) System of measure?
 The English system uses a base 12 to
make conversions and gets very
complicated
 The Metric system uses a base 10 (just
like the fingers on your hand) to make
conversions and is VERY easy

3. Don’t most countries use the
English system?
 No…in fact, beside the United Sates,
the only other country that uses the
English system is…………….
(Take a guess)

4. You Guessed it…..
 Myanmar , officially the Union of
Myanmar is the largest country in
geographical area in mainland
Southeast Asia . Also known as Burma
or the Union of Burma

5. Why does the United States
still use the English system?
 Convenience? Maybe we just don’t want to
change because we would have to learn
some new stuff
 Cost? It would cost a lot of money: Think
about roadsigns, containers, cars, foods, etc
Probably a little of both…but in this class, the
English system of measure does not exist

6. OK…Here we go
 This is a much easier way to do
calculations, and make conversions:
 Try these 2 calculations one in the
English system and one in metric
 Convert 7,899 inches to miles
 Convert 7,899 centimeters into kilometers

7. First the English measure
 7,899 inches/12inches in a foot
658.25 feet
• 658.25 feet/5,280 feet in a mile
.12466856060 of a mile
• All that just to make 2 conversions????
NO Thanks! Pain in the BOOTY

8. Now the Metric method
 7,899 centimeters to kilometers…that’s
5 conversions!!!! Holy Cow!
 Ready? Go… Move the decimal 5
places to the left. That’s it.
.07899 kilometers
I’m a cow,
and I can do
THAAAAT

9. Start with base units
 Base units are what we multiply by the
prefix to arrive at a new quantity. It
doesn’t matter what it is…just apply the
prefix to the base unit.
 Here are some common base units

10. Mass
 Grams-How much is a gram? About a
penny. How many grams in an ounce?
Who cares…we don’t use English units

11. Volume
 2 ways to do this
Liters-usually liquid or gas containers
Meters cubed: B X H X W = M3

12. Length
 Meters: This is about as far apart ( a
little more) as you would hold your
hands for a yard.

13. Temperature
 Celsius, or Centigrade: How do you covert
Farenheit to Celsius?
 1st subtract 32 from the Farenheit number
 Then divide by 9
 Then multiply by 5
 Isn’t that fun????
 Really, who cares?
 98.6°F is roughly equal to 37°C

14. Why don’t we just use Farenheit?
Are you kidding?
How do you covert Farenheit to
Celsius?
1st subtract 32 from the Farenheit number
Then divide by 9
Then multiply by 5
Isn’t that fun????
Really, who cares?
98.6°F is roughly equal to 37°C

15. Prefixes
 Now that we have the base units, we
need to know what to do with them. In
the metric system, we add a prefix to a
base and multiply the number
represented by the prefix by one base
unit… Here we go

16. Prefix names and numeric
meanings
 Here are some fun ones
 Yotta- Y 10 24
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
 Zetta- Z 10 21
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
 Exa- E 10 18
1 000 000 000 000 000 000
 Peta- P 10 15
1 000 000 000 000 000
 Tera- T 10 12
1 000 000 000 000
 Giga- G 10 9
1 000 000 000
 Mega- M 10 6
1 000 000
myria- my 10 4
10 000 (this is now obsolete)
This is making
me
Dog-gone
mad

17. More useful prefixes
 kilo- k 10 3
1000
 hecto- h 10 2
100
 deka- D 101
10
 Unit ? 100
1
 deci- d 10 -1
0.1
 centi- c 10 -2
0.01
 milli- m 10 -3
0.001
 micro- mu 10 -6
0.000 001
 nano- n 10 -9
0.000 000 001
I’m catching
on

18. Sigh…Don’t these people
have something better to do
with their time?
 pico- p 10 -12
0.000 000 000 001
 femto- f 10 -15
0.000 000 000 000 001
 atto- a 10 -18
0.000 000 000 000 000 001
 zepto- z 10 -21
0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001
 yocto- y 10 -24
0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001

19. The good news
 You only need to know the prefixes in the
middle
 k h da u d c m mu n

20. Putting it together
 Add the prefix to the base:
 Example how many grams is 25 kG
 Kilo is 1000
 25 is 25 (duh)
 So this is 25,000 grams
 Would this number be the same if the base was
chocolate chip cookies????????

21. Conversions
 Since everything is base 10, all you have to
do is move the decimal:
 Convert 3899 mL to L
Look at the khdaUdcm prefix scale and move the
decimal the same direction as the prefix
Since we are moving from milli to unit, move the
decimal 3 spaces to the left:
3.899 L

22. Practice
 Convert
1) 23 mG to dG
2) 45 daL to mL
3) 9966 mM to kM

23. Answers
1) 23 mG = .23 dG
2) 45 daL = 450000 mL
3) 9966 mM = .009966 kM

24. Don’t tell me…Temperature?
 Fraid so- Fahrenheit is an outdated and
pretty useless scale for measuring
temperature. This silly temperature
scale was named after
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686 ﾐ 1736)
 There are conflicting stories as to how
he arrived at this scale, but it is obsolete
today

25. Celsius
 In Science and really in the rest of the
world we use the Celsius scale, named
after Anders Celsius (1701-1744). THIS
is based on the melting and boiling
points of water: 0 degrees and 100
degrees…Unfortunately these
temperatures can be expressed as
negatives which makes them difficult to
do calculations with, sooooo……

26. Kelvin Scale
 The Kelvin scale is more useful in
science because there are no negative
temperatures. This is based on the
absolute zero concept. That is the
temperature at which all molecular
motion stops. This is 273.15 ° below
zero Celsius. That is cold!!! This ais
about 460 degrees below zero
Farenheit

27. Wa-Hoooooooo!
 I am a Metric-Maniac!!!!!!