1. 1.8 NOTES – Metric Conversion

2. Why is it important to standardized measurment?

3. What’s the problem? Really? What?

5. Units of Measurement
A. SI Units – International System; used in science throughout the world to provide
continuity in research; 7 base units are used to derive every other unit;
1. Standard Base Units (SI base units). Give those for time, length, mass and volume: _sec, meter, kilogram, L____ gram is more commonly used when referring to balances.

7. Prefix
Symbol
Factor
Scientific notation
Example
Giga G
1,000,000,000
109
*don’t use
Mega M
1,000,000
106
Kilo k
1,000
103
Hecto h
100
102
Deka da 10
101
Base 1
Deci d
0.1
10-1
Centi c
0.01
10-2
Milli m
0.001
10-3
Micro μ
10-6
Nano n
10-9

8. Other measurements:
b. Angstrom (Å) – prefix used for length only; 10-10; Swedish;
c. Micron (μ) – used a lot in industry; micrometer

9. Prefixes are used to represent quantities that are larger or smaller than the base units

11. 2. Conversions – 1) identify where you are starting
2) identify where you are ending
3) count the number of places the decimal would move AND direction
4) apply to your problem; each time you move, X10; common sense – if you move from big to small, the number should get larger b/c you need more and vice versa; must keep sig figs
k h da _B_ d c m __ __ μ __ __ n Å

12. Sample Problems – (Reference bottom work area)
k h da _B_ d c m __ __ μ __ __ n Å
2.5m  mm cm  Ǻ
13 dL  kL km  m
kg  cg μm  Ǻ