1. Mrs. Eubanks 2009-10

2. ♦ Metric System Simple to Use Universal – used everywhere by all scientists to communicate by all industrialized nations ▸ except United States ▸ U.S. loses billions of dollars in trade

3. ♦ Customary Units length – inch, foot, yard, mile weight – ounce, pound volume – teaspoon, cup, quart, gallon temperature – degrees Fahrenheit

4. ♦ History of the Metric System Created during French Revolution in 1790 French King overthrown National Assembly of France sets up new government French Academy of Science told to design new system of weights and measures Lavaiosie appointed to head committee

5. ♦ New Name & Updating Called Systeme International d’Unitès, or SI – International System of Units Revised periodically by International Bureau of Weight and Measures

6. ♦ Advantages of Using the Metric System Simple to use Only 7 base units make up all measurements ▸ length ▸ electric current ▸ mass ▸ brightness of light ▸ time ▸ amount of a chemical ▸ temperature

7. ♦ Advantages of Using the Metric System continued Easy to convert from one unit to another ▸ multiply – shift decimal point right count down the staircase To convert from a larger to smaller metric unit you always multiply

8. ♦ Advantages of Using the Metric System continued ▸ divide – shift decimal point left count up the staircase To convert from a smaller to larger unit you always divide

9. ♦ Prefixes Latin – fractions of the base small numbers deci – tenths of the base 1/10 centi – hundredths of the base 1/100 milli – thousandths of the base 1/1000

10. ♦ Prefixes Greek – multiples of the base large numbers deka – 10 × the base hecto – 100 × the base kilo – 1000 × the base

12. STAIR-STEP METRIC SYSTEM The metric system step chart uses the following steps: 1. Find the unit you have. 2. Move to the unit you want. 3. Count the number of steps and move the decimal point the same number of places in the same direction

13. STAIR-STEP METRIC SYSTEM Kilo km ) kg )Hecto_ klhm ) hg ) Deka__ hldkm ) dkg )Units dklm ) g ) deci___ ldm ) dg )_centi__ dlcm ) cg )_milli__ cl mm mg ml Each time you move down a step you will move the decimal point forward one place. Each time you climb up a step you move the decimal point backward one step.

14. Consider some of the following 1 m = km Kilo km ) kg )Hecto_ klhm ) hg ) Deka__ hldkm ) dkg )Units dklm ) g ) deci___ ldm ) dg )_centi__ dlcm ) cg )_milli__ cl mm mg ml.001 km (you climb up three steps)

15. 12 cm = km Kilo km ) kg )Hecto_ klhm ) hg ) Deka__ hldkm ) dkg )Units dklm ) g ) deci___ ldm ) dg )_centi__ dlcm ) cg )_milli__ cl mm mg ml. 00012 km (you climb up five steps)

16. 81 cm = m Kilo km ) kg )Hecto_ klhm ) hg ) Deka__ hldkm ) dkg )Units dklm ) g ) deci___ ldm ) dg )_centi__ dlcm ) cg )_milli__ cl mm mg ml.81 m (you climb up two steps)

17. 3 dm = km Kilo km ) kg )Hecto_ klhm ) hg ) Deka__ hldkm ) dkg )Units dklm ) g ) deci___ ldm ) dg )_centi__ dlcm ) cg )_milli__ cl mm mg ml.0003 km (you climb up four steps)

18. 1 hm = 100 m (you go down two steps) 7 mm =.7 cm (you climb up one step) 1.2 km = 120,000 cm (you go down five steps)