A measurement is a repeatable observation of a quantity that includes a number and a unit.

Examples: 43 meters 16 seconds 5 liters 20 minutes 20.5 centimeters

Scientists worldwide have agreed to use the SI system of measurement in their work.

SI stands for “Syste’me International” Each type of measurement in SI has a base unit,

such as the meter for distance or the second for time.

A common name for this system is the metric system.

Divide your planner page box into 24 sections by dividing it in half vertically, then each of those sections in half and then in half again.

Divide it horizontally in thirds like the following:

List the saying that is going to help us remember the prefixes used in the metric system.

Then fill in the name of the prefixes along with their abbreviations.

kilo hecto deka deci centi milli

king henry danced

merrily

down center main

k h da d c m

The base units we are going to work with this year are: Meter – that is used for measuring distance Gram – that is used for measuring mass Liter – that is used for measuring liquid

volume.

Change the saying for each of the saying for the other two base units.

List the base units that are used for each of the measurements.

kilo hecto deka gracefuly

deci centi milli mass

king henry danced merrily down center main length

k

h da Lazily d c m volume

Fill in the names of each unit by adding the prefixes to the base words.

List the abbreviations for each

Kilogramkg

hectogramhg

dekagramdag

gramg

decigramdg

centigramcg

milligrammg

mass

kilometerkm

hectometerhm

dekameterdam

meterm

decimeterdm

centimetercm

millimetermm

length

kiloliterkL

hectoliterhL

dekaliterdaL

LiterL

deciliterdL

centilitercL

millilitermL

volume

Multiply each of the following numbers by 10

27 x 10 =

157 x 10 =

56.4 x 10 =

458.87 x 10 =

23.516 x 10 =

270

1570

564

4588.7

235.16

Multiply each of the following numbers by 100

22 x 100 =

156 x 100 =

45.1 x 100 =

74.32 x 100 =

3.567 x 100 =

2200

15600

4510

7432

356.7

330 10 =7600 10 =268.1 10 =1.78 10 =

18.395 10 =

33.0 or 33760.0 or 76026.810.1781.8395

210 100 =7800 100 =521.6 100 =

82.1 100 =7.666 100 =

2.10 or 2.1

78.00 or 78

4.216

0.821

0.07666

If you were able to do all that without a calculator, you can do metrics.

The metric system is based on a base unit that corresponds to a certain kind of measurement

Length = meter (m) Volume = liter (L or l) Weight (Mass) = gram (g)

Prefixes added to the base units make up the metric system Example:

Centi + meter = Centimeter = cm Kilo + liter = Kiloliter = kL or kl

The three prefixes that we will use the most in class are:kilocentimilli

kilo hecto deka

Base Units

metergramliter

deci centi milli

So if you needed to measure length you would choose meter as your base unitLength of a tree branch

1.5 meters Length of a room

5 meters Length of a ball of twine stretched out

25 meters

These prefixes are based on powers of 10. What does this mean? From each prefix every “step” is either:

10 times larger or

10 times smaller For example

Centimeters are 10 times larger than millimeters 1 centimeter = 10 millimeters

kilo hecto deka

Base Unitsmetergramliter

deci centi milli

A centimeters is 10 times longer than a millimeter so it takes more millimeters for the same length

1 centimeter = 10 millimeters

Example not to scale

1 mm1 mm1 mm1 mm1 mm1 mm1 mm1 mm1 mm1 mm

1 cm

40

41

41

40

For each “step” to right, you are multiplying by 10

For example, let’s go from a base unit to centi-

1 liter = 10 deciliters = 100 centiliters

2 grams = 20 decigrams = 200 centigrams

kilo hecto dekameterliter

gramdeci centi milli

( 1 x 10 = 10) = (10 x 10 = 100)

(2 x 10 = 20) = (20 x 10 = 200)

An easy way to move within the metric system is by moving the decimal point one place for each “step” desired

Example: change meters to centimeters

1 meter = 10 decimeters = 100 centimetersor

1.00 meter = 10.0 decimeters = 100. centimeters

kilo hecto dekameterliter

gramdeci centi milli

Now let’s try our previous example from meters to kilometers:16093 meters = 1609.3 decameters = 160.93 hectometers = 16.093 kilometers

So for every “step” from the base unit to kilo, we moved the decimal 1 place to the left (the same direction as in the diagram below)

kilo hecto deka

meterliter

gram

deci centi milli

If you move to the left in the diagram, move the decimal to the left

If you move to the right in the diagram, move the decimal to the right

kilo hecto deka

meterliter

gram

deci centi milli

Now let’s start from centiliters and convert to kiloliters

400000 centiliters = 4.00000 kiloliters

400000 centiliters = 4 kiloliters

kilo hecto deka

meterliter

gram

deci centi milli

Now let’s start from meters and convert to kilometers

4000 meters = 4 kilometers

kilo hecto deka

meterliter

gram

deci centi milli

kilo hecto deka

meterliter

gram

deci centi milli

• Now let’s start from centigrams and convert to grams

4000 centigrams = 40 grams

Now let’s start from liters and convert to centiliters

5 liters = 500 centiliters

kilo hecto deka

meterliter

gram

deci centi milli

kilo hecto deka

meterliter

gram

deci centi milli

• Now let’s start from kilograms and convert to grams

.3 kilograms = 300 grams

Now let’s start from kilometers and convert to millimeters4 kilometers = 4000000 millimeters

or4 kilometers = 40 hectometers = 400 decameters = 4000 meters = 40000 decimeters = 400000 centimeters = 4000000 millimeters

kilo hecto deka

meterliter

gram

deci centi milli

Summary Base units in the metric system are meter, liter,

gram Metric system is based on powers of 10 For conversions within the metric system, each

“step” is 1 decimal place to the right or left Using the diagram below, converting to the

right, moves the decimal to the right and vice versa

kilo hecto deka

meterliter

gram

deci centi milli