Unit 6: THE METRIC SYSTEM

6.1.- THE METRIC SYSTEM

The metric system, also known as the Systme International dUnits (SI), was developed in the late 1700s to standardize units of measurement in Europe. The metric system is used in nearly every country in the world except the United States.

The world since 1970: Green = metric, black = English Imperial system

The simplicity of the metric system stems from the fact that there is only one unit of measurement (or base unit) for each type of quantity measured (length, mass, etc.). The three most common base units in the metric system are the metre, the gram, and the litre. With these simple measurements we can measure nearly everything in the world.

Examples:

The length of this guitar is about 1 metre.

This dictionary has a mass of about 1 kilogram.

This jug has exactly 1 litre of water in it.

But what if we want to talk about really big or really small objects? The measurement of very large and very small objects is expressed as multiples of ten of the base unit.

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For example, rather than saying that the Nile River is 6,650,000 metres long, we can say that it is 6,650 thousand-metres long. This would be done by adding the prefix kilo (meaning 1,000) to the base unit metre. So the length of the Nile River is 6,650 kilometres.

Metric numbers
In the Metric System we use metric number prefixes like kilo (a thousand), milli (one thousandth) and so on. The table below shows the prefixes used for talking about big and small numbers.
Name trillion billion million thousand hundred ten unit tenth hundredth thousandth millionth billionth trillionth 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.000 001 0.000 000 001 0.000 000 000 001 1 deci centi milli micro nano pico d c m The number 1,000,000,000,000 1,000,000,000 1,000,000 1,000 100 10 Prefix tera giga mega kilo hecto deca Symbol T G M k h da

n p

Example 1:
You put your bag on a set of scales and it shows 2,000 grams, we can call that 2 kilograms, or simply 2 kg.

Example 2:
The doctor wants you to take 5 thousandths of a litre of medicine (a thousandth is one thousand times smaller), he is more likely to say take 5 millilitres?, or write it down as 5 ml.

Exercise 1:
Copy and complete. a) 1 hm = ____ m b) 1 dal = ____ l c) 1 l = ____ dl d) 1 m = ____ cm e) 1 g = ____ mg f) 1 hl = ____ dal g) 1 dl = ____ cl h) 1 dm = ____ mm

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Converting units
The metric system is called a decimal-based system because it is based on multiples of ten. Any measurement given in one metric unit can be converted to another metric unit in a simple way. This is the metric conversion stair chart:

For every step upward on the chart you are dividing by 10 or moving the decimal one place to the left.

Example: 1.2 cm = 0.012 m

We move two steps up on the chart, so we divide by 100, that is, we move the decimal point two places to the left.

When you move down the stairs you are multiplying by 10 for each step or moving the decimal one place to the right.
We move three steps down on the chart, so we multiply by 1000, that is, we move the decimal point three places to the right.

Example: 5.3 kg = 5300 g

Exercise 2:
Copy and complete. a) 2462 m = _____ km b) 4.2 dal = _____ hl c) 256 cg = _____ g d) 400 mm = _____ dm e) 1.6 kl = _____ dal f) 0.52 hm = _____ m g) 5.4 l = _____ cl h) 75 cg = _____ g i) 0.58 m = _____ dm j) 234 ml = ____ l k) 46 cg = _____ dg l) 0.08 m = _____ cm

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Exercise 3:
Convert into metres. a) 1 km 6 hm 7 dam b) 6 hm 5 m 6 dm c) 2 dm 7 cm 8 mm d) 3 hm 5 dm 9 mm

6.2.- LENGTH MEASUREMENT

Length is a measure of distance. You can measure how long things are, or how tall, or how far apart they are. Those are all examples of length measurements.

Examples:

This fork is 20 cm long.

The thickness of a plastic id card is about 1 mm.

A fingernail is about 1 cm wide.

The base unit for length is the metre. One metre is one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earths equator to the North Pole. The most common length measurements are millimetres, centimetres, metres and kilometres.

One metre equals roughly one long step of an adult man.

One kilometre equals ten minutes walk.

Exercise 4:
Give the most sensible unit for measuring the following lengths. a) b) c) d) e) The The The The The width of a table. thickness of 10 sheet of paper on top of each other. length of football field. distance from one city to another. height of an adult person.

Exercise 5:
There are 35 English books in the pile on teachers desk. If each book is 8 mm thick, what is the height of the pile in centimetres?

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Exercise 6:
Ethan lives at one end of Park Avenue. Brian lives at the other end of the avenue. It is 5.8 kilometres from one end of Park Avenues to the other. If Ethan walks 2.79 kilometres toward Brians house, how many metres does he have to walk to get there?

Exercise 7:
The police went on a wild chase to catch the man speeding through town in a black car. At times their speeds exceeded one hundred forty-three km per hour. At that rate, how many kilometres would the car go in 35 minutes?

Exercise 8:
Dylan is the best athlete in his school. He can pole vault up to five metres and seventy-three centimetres. If he would like to be able to pole vault up to six and twelve hundredths metres, how many more centimetres does he need to pole vault to reach his goal?

Exercise 9:
The diagram is a plan of the floor of a school hall. For an assembly the hall is filled with chairs.

Each chair needs this amount of space.

The chairs are arranged in two blocks. You need a gap of 0.6 m between rows of seats. You need to leave a border of 1 m around each block. How many chairs can you fit in the school hall?

6.3.- VOLUME AND CAPACITY MEASUREMENT

Capacity is a measure of the amount of liquid a 3-D shape contains. Volume is the amount of space a 3-D shape or substance occupies or contains. The volume of a container is generally understood to be the capacity of the container rather than the amount of space it occupies.

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The base unit for volume is the litre. One litre is the capacity of a cubic decimetre. 1 litre = 1 dm3 The two most common volume measurements are millilitres and litres.

A teaspoon of liquid is about 5 millilitres.

20 drops of water makes about 1 millilitre

Other volume measurements: Cubic metre (m3): a cube that is 1 metre on each side. Cubic centimetre (cm3): a cube that is 1 cm on each side.

1 m3 = 1000 l 1 dm3 = 1 l

1 cm3 = 1 ml

1 m3 = 1000 dm3 = 1000 l

1 dm3 = 1000 cm3

1 l = 1 dm3 = 1000 cm3 3 1 cm = 1 ml 1 l = 1000 ml

Exercise 10:
Give the most sensible unit for measuring the capacity of each of the following. a) b) c) d) e) A A A A A swimming pool. fridge. bottle of perfume. cars petrol tank. garden watering can.

Exercise 11:
In Tusco a 3 litre bottle of Coke costs 1.59. A 340 ml can costs 39 p. Which is the best value and why?

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Exercise 12:
To make a fruit punch for a party, Tammy mixes three 1 litre boxes of orange juice with two 1 litre boxes of pineapple juice and ten 500 ml bottles of lemonade. What is the total volume of the fruit punch?

Exercise 13:
Convert into litres: 2 m3 75 dm3 590 cm3.

Exercise 14:
A large coffee urn contains 15 litres of tea and is used to fill cups with 125 ml of tea in each. a) How many cups can be filled from a full urn of tea? b) If 40 cups have been filled from a full urn, what volume of tea is left in the urn?

6.4.- MASS MEASUREMENT

Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object. Mass is linked to weight. The base unit for mass is the gram. One gram is the weight of 1 cm3 of pure water. The most common mass measurements are grams, kilograms and tonnes. 1 kg = 1000 g 1 tonne = 1000 kg g

A paperclip weighs about 1 gram.

The weight of 7 apples is about 1 kilogram.

This car weighs about 2 tonnes.

Exercise 15:
Give the most sensible unit for measuring the weight of each of the following. a) b) c) d) e) A A A A A sugar lump. sack of potatoes. ballpoint pen. lorry. light bulb.

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Exercise 16:
The total weight of a van and its load is 5 tonnes. If the van carries 10 crates, each having a weight of 270 kg, find the weight of the van when empty.

Exercise 17:
A man who weighs 80 kg loads 12 crates, each of weight 55 kg, on a trolley of weight 260 kg. He them pushes the full trolley into a lift cage where there is notice as follows:

Load not to exceed 1 tonne

Is it safe to start the lift?

Exercise 18:
Twelve coloured pencils, each of weight 8 g, are contained in a cardboard packet of weight 29 g. a) What is the weight of the full packet? b) How many of the same packets would together weigh 1 kg?

6.5.- AREA MEASUREMENT

The area of a shape is the amount of space it covers. The base unit for area is the square metre. A square metre is the area of a square that is 1 m on each side.
The area covered by a large umbrella is roughly one square metre

Multiples and divisors of the square meter are shown in the following table: km2
1 000 000 m2

hm2
10 000 m2

dam2
100 m2

m2

dm2
0.01 m2

cm2
0.0001 m2

mm2
0.000001 m2

Examples:
A square hectometre (hm2) is the area of a square that is 1 hm on each side. A square decimetre (dm2) is the area of a square that is 1 dm on each side. A square centimetre (cm2) is the area of a square that is 1 cm on each side.

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Look at this picture in order to understand the equivalences between these units.
The square metre is divided into 10 rows of 10 square decimetres.

1 m2 = 10 10 dm2 = 100 dm2

The same thing happens to the other units. For example:

1 dm2 = 10 10 cm2 = 100 cm2 1 cm2 = 10 10 mm2 = 100 mm2 1 dam2 = 10 10 m2 = 100 m2

Converting units
To convert units you can use this stair chart:

For every step upward on the chart you are dividing by 100 or moving the decimal two places to the left.

Example: 1275 dm2 = 12.75 m2

We move one step up on the chart, so we divide by 100,

When you move down the stairs you are multiplying by 100 for each step or moving the decimal two places to the right.
We move two steps down on the chart, so we multiply by 10000

Example: 5 hm2 = 50000 m2

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Land units
Hectares and square kilometres are commonly used to measure land. A hectare (ha) is an area equal to a square that is 100 metres on each side. Hectares and square hectometres are the same.

1 ha = 1 hm2 = 10 000 m2

1km2 = 1 00 ha

The surface of Spain is about 500 000 km2 = 50 000 000 ha .

Exercise 19:
Give the most sensible unit for measuring the area of each of the following. a) b) c) d) e) Portugal. A house. A sheet of paper. A television screen. A football pitch.

Exercise 20:
Copy and complete. a) 5.1 km2 = _____ hm2 b) 825 hm2 = _____ km2 c) 0.03 hm2 = _____ m2 d) 12500 m2 = _____ ha e) 3500 ha = _____ km2 f) 53000 m2 = _____ dam2 g) 420 cm2 = _____ mm2 h) 52800 mm2 = _____ dm2 i) 5 m2 4 dm2 7 cm2 = _________ m2 j) 5 km2 48 hm2 25 dam2 = ___________ m2

10

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METRIC AND IMPERIAL MEASURES

You can measure length, mass and capacity using metric and imperial units. You can convert between metric units by multiplying or dividing by 10, 100, 1000,

Length is a measure of distance. Imperial units inch () foot () yard ( 3 ft = 1 yd ) mile Equivalents 5 miles 8 km 1 inch 2.5 cm 1 yard 1 m 1 foot 30 cm
1 metre is a bit longer than 1 yard

Metric units millimetre (mm) centimetre (cm) metre (m) kilometre (km)

10 mm = 1 cm 100 cm = 1 m 1000 m = 1 km

means approximately equal to

Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object. Mass is linked to weight. Imperial units ounce (oz) 1000 g = 1 kg pound (lb) 1000 kg = 1 tonne stone ton Equivalents 1 ounce 30 g 1 lb 454 g 1 kg 2.2 lb

Metric units gram (g) kilogram (kg) tonne (t)

Capacity is a measure of the amount of liquid a 3-D shape wild hold.

Metric units Imperial units Equivalents 1 pint 600 ml millilitre (ml) 1000 ml = 1 litre pint centilitre (cl) 100 cl = 1 litre gallon 1.75 pint s 1 litre litre 1 gallon 4.5 litres

Example:
Calculate the approximate length of a 12 inch ruler in a) centimetres b) millimetres
cm 10 10 mm

a) 1 2.5 cm 12 2.5 12 = 30 cm

b)

1 cm = 10 mm 30 cm 30 10 = 300 mm

METRIC AND IMPERIAL MEASURES. WORKSHEET

1. Choose one of these metric units to measure each of these items. millimetre kilogram litre gram centilitre kilometre millilitre metre centimetre tonne

a) your height c) your weight e) weight of a suitcase g) quantity of drink in a can i) weight of an elephant

b) amount of tea in a mug d) length of a suitcase f) distance from Paris to Madrid h) amount of petrol in a car j) weight of an apple

Write the appropriate abbreviation next to your answer. 2. Convert these measurements to the units shown. a) 20 mm = _______ cm c) 450 cm = _______ m e) 0.5 cm = _______ mm g) 6000 g = _______ kg i) 2500 kg = _______ t 3. Convert these distances to miles. b) 400 cm = _______ m d) 4000 m = _______ km f) 4.5 kg = _______ g h) 6500 g = _______ kg j) 3 litres = _______ ml

4. Convert these measurements to centimetres. a) 1 inch b) 5 inches c) 6 inches d) 12 inches e) 36 inches

5. Use 1 kg 2.2 lb to convert these weights to pounds. a) 2 kg b) 40 kg c) 50 kg d) 0.5 kg e) 2.5 kg

6. Use 1 oz 30 g to convert ounces to grams in these recipes.

7. The speed limit on a motorway in the UK is 70 miles per hour. Calculate the speed limit in kilometres per hour.