METRIC CONVERSION

You can do Metric Conversion if:

You can Count Up to Twelve and
Know Your Left From Your Right
What are ‘units’ of measurement?
Units of measurements are just the way we
define an amount of something.
Here are some examples. In each example
the unit is underlined.
I am 33 years old.
The movie was 2 hours and 13 minutes
long.
I have a mass of 75 kilograms.
The chief needs 4 dozen eggs for tomorrow.
Introduction to the Metric
System
History
Created during French Revolution (1790)
– New system of Weights and Measures created
Called Systeme International d’Unitès,
– or SI - International System of Units
Revised periodically
– by International Bureau of Weight and
Measures
Customary Units of Measurement

⚫ The English System

⚫ a collection of functionally unrelated units
⚫ Difficult to convert from one unit to another
⚫ Ex. 1 ft = 12 inches = 0.33 yard = 1/5280 miles
⚫ Customary Units
⚫ length - inch, foot, yard, mile
⚫ weight/mass - ounce, pound
⚫ volume - teaspoon, cup, quart, gallon
⚫ temperature - degrees Fahrenheit
⚫ time - minutes, hours
 What is a Metric Unit?
Metric units are the universally excepted units
around the world (except for the US). They
are the easiest to convert.

Metric Unit Examples:

– meters Base Units – all
other metric
– liters units are based
– grams off of these (km,
cm, ml, kg)

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Advantages of Using the Metric
System
⚫ Universal
⚫ Simple to use
⚫A few base units make up all measurements
Advantages of Using the Metric
System
⚫ There is only one unit of measurement for each
type of quantity
⚫ To simplify things, very small and very large numbers
are expressed as multiples of the base unit.
⚫ Prefixes are used to represent how much smaller or larger the
quantity is compared to the base unit.
⚫ Easy to convert from one unit to another
⚫ shift decimal point right
⚫ shift decimal point left
Advantages of Using the Metric
System
Same set of prefixes for all units
– Greek - multiples of the base
• kilo - 1000 × the base
• hecto - 100 × the base
• deka - 10 × the base
– Latin - fractions of the base
• deci - tenths of the base
• centi - hundredths of the base
• milli - thousandths of the base
Mnemonic: “Kids Have Dropped Over Dead
Converting Metrics.”
Metric Units of Measurement

Metric Units
– length – meter (m)
– weight/mass – gram (g)
– volume – liter (L)
– temperature - degrees Celsius (°C)
– time – seconds (s)
Measurement Unit Conversion
⚫ You can convert between units of
measurement
⚫within the metric system
⚫between the English system and metric system
What are Metric Conversions?
Sometimes we need to
change from one
measurement to another.

This is usually done because

the unit that is used is either
too big or too small for that
type of measurement.
TOO BIG !!!

525,568
millimeters
Sometimes the number is too big for the unit
being measured.
TOO SMALL

0.00654 km

Sometimes the number is too

small for the unit being
measured
 How Do We Fix This Problem?

We can correct these problems by doing a

process called Metric Conversion.

Metric Conversion: changing from one unit

of measurement to another.
 Metric Conversion Factors
1 km= 1000 m Knowing these
100 cm= 1 m conversion factors
makes calculating
1000 mm = 1 m
conversions easy!
10 mm = 1 cm
These also work for
liters and grams. Just
replace the base unit
(m) with a (g) or (l).
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 The Staircase Method

We will be using a method called The Stair-

step Method of Metric Conversion.

It requires two things; one, that you be able to

count to 12, and two, that you know your
left from your right.
Staircase Method
Kilo-
Hecto- Base units
Deka- g, m, L
base units
Larger units Deci- Smaller units→
Centi-
Milli-

Move up the stairs, Move down the stairs,

decimal moves to the decimal moves to the
left right →
Using the stair step method
1. Find your starting step
2. Count the # of steps it takes to get to the
step that you need to stop on.
A. If you move to the (downstairs) the decimal
in the first measurement moves that many
places to the right →.
B. If you move to the (upstairs) then the
decimal moves to the left .
3. Fill any empty places with zeros.
 K)ing (H)enry (D)ied (B)y
(D)rinking (C)hocolate (M)ilk
Kilo-
Hecto- Grams,
Deka- liters,meters
base units
Deci-
Centi-
Milli-
525568 mm = ? m
Millimeters are a very small amount of distance.
You would not want to measure a large
distance in a very small unit.

Kilo-
Hecto- Base units
Deka- g, L,m
base units
Moved 3 to the  Deci-
Centi-
525.568m
Milli-
0.00654 km = ? m
Kilometers(km) are a fairly large unit of
distance. You would not want to measure a
small distance in a large unit, so we need to
convert it to a smaller unit, the meter.
Kilo→m is 3 steps to the right
Therefore, 0.00654 km becomes 6.54 m.
What is the value for each prefix?
Hey! This Is Easy!
You bet it’s easy! Like we said on the first
slide…..
Be able to count up to twelve and know your
left from your right.
Now, get your stair-step sheet and your
practice problems and do some more
conversions!
 Dimensional Analysis
A mathematical way to convert one unit to
another. This works for metric units and non-
metric (English) units.

This works by taking the unit you are given

and multiplying it by a conversion factor.

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 Example 1: Convert 3m to cm

For meters to cancel out,

3m 100 cm meters in the conversion
1m factor must be on the
opposite side of the fraction
(fence).

Given Conversion
Factor Multiply every number on top
of the fence and divide by the
bottom.
= 300cm

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 Example 2: Convert 1516 g to kg

1516 g 1 kg
1000 g

conversion factor

= 1.516 kg

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Example 3:Convert 3 m to mm.

3m 1000 mm
1m

conversion factor

= 3000 mm
 Whiteboard Problem 1
Convert 1200 cm to m.

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 Whiteboard Problem 2
Convert 5200 mL to L.

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 Non-Metric (English) Unit
Conversions
Common Conversion Factors
– 5280 ft = 1 mile
– 12 in = 1 ft
– 1 mile = 1600 m English to Metric
– 1 in = 2.54 cm conversion factors
– 3 ft = 1 yard

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 Example 1: Convert 2 miles to ft

2 mi 5280 ft
1 mi

= 10,560 ft

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 Whiteboard Problem 1
Convert 3.2 ft to inches.

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Temperature Conversions
Conversion Between
Fahrenheit, Celsius, and
Kelvin
Example:
– Convert 75 ºC to ºF
– Convert -10 ºF to ºC
 Example 5: Convert 5 ft to cm

5 ft 12 in 2.54 cm
1 ft 1 in

= 152. 4 cm

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 Week 2: Warm-Up Activity #1
Solve using Staircase method.
Convert:
1. 400 m to cm
2. 75 mg to g
3. 5200 mL to L.
4. 0.77 km to mm
5. 1.9 kg to g
 Week 2: Warm-Up Activity #2
Solve using Dimensional Analysis. Show your
solutions.

1. Convert 45 inches to cm.

2. Convert 8 m to inches.
3. Convert 10ft to cm.
4. Convert 5 km to in.

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Instruction:
Write your answer in your notebook. Deadline
is on September 8, 2022.