Metric Conversion Protocol Numbers in the metric system are made larger or smaller by adding prefixes to the base unit. The base unit determines whether the measurement involves mass, volume or length. m l g is a base unit if only one letter, it
km prefix prefix base unit
ml
prefix base unit
cg
base unit
Review cubic volume from 8th grade. 1 cm3 = 1 ml = 1.0 g for pure H2O at 20º C
The Metric Prefixes Prefix: Symbol: Magnitude: Meaning (multiply by): 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 Yotta- Y 1024 000 Zetta- Z 1021 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 Exa- E 1018 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 Peta- P 1015 1 000 000 000 000 000 Tera- T 1012 1 000 000 000 000 Giga- G 109 1 000 000 000 Mega- M 106 1 000 000 Kilo- k 103 1000 Hecto- h 102 100 Deka- da 10 10 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 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 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 yocto- y 10-24 001
Some of the metric prefixes in the table above are relatively new, and not yet in common use. King Kilo (k) 1000
Hector Hecto (h) 100
Base Unit Drew deka (da) 10 Meter (m) Liter (l) Gram (g) 1
During deci (d) 0.1 (1/10)
Class centi (c) 0.01 (1/100)
Monday milli (m) 0.001 (1/1000)
Examples of metric conversion problems 0.001 km = _____________________ dm 210 m = _________________________ hm 1000 ml = ________________________ cm 1 kg = ___________________________ g Approximately, how many millimeters are there between Fort Collins and Denver? It is 80 km (50 miles). Approximately, how many meters is the circumference of the earth at the equator? It is 40,000 km (24,000 miles). Approximately, how many meters long is the tabletop? dm? cm? mm?