Measurement
The Metric System
The metric system was adopted in France in 1795 as a standardized system of measurement.
Today, the worldwide scientific community and most countries use a version of the metric
system, known as the SI system.
In the SI system, there are seven base units. All other quantities can be measured using
combinations of these.
SI Base Units
Base Quantity Base Unit Symbol
Length meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Temperature Kelvin K
Amount of Substance mole mol
Electric Current ampere A
Luminous Intensity candela cd
A wide variety of other units, called derived units, are combinations of the base units.
SI Derived Units
Quantity Unit Symbol In Base Units Alternate Units
Acceleration m / s2 m / s2
Activity Bequerel Bq
Electric Charge Coulomb C A⋅s
Electric Field N /C kg ⋅ m / C ⋅ s 2
Electric Resistance Ohm Ω kg ⋅ m2 / A2 ⋅ s3 V/A
Energy, Work Joule J kg ⋅ m / s 2 2
N ⋅m
EMF Volt V kg ⋅ m / A ⋅ s
2 3
Force Newton N kg ⋅ m / s 2
Frequency Hertz Hz s −1
Magnetic Field Tesla T kg / A ⋅ s 2
Magnetic Flux Weber Wb ( kg ⋅ m ) / ( s
2 2
⋅A ) T ⋅ m2
Momentum, Impulse kg ⋅ m / s kg ⋅ m / s N ⋅s
Potential Difference Volt V kg ⋅ m / A ⋅ s
2 3
W / A or J / C
Power Watt W kg ⋅ m / s 2 3
J /s
Velocity m/s m/s
PH40S Mr. Smith
SI Prefixes
Unusually large or small measurements can be tedious to write out. For example, the mass of an
electron is about 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 911 kg. In the metric system, we
use two different methods to simplify the writing of such numbers.
First, we make use of scientific notation. The mass of an electron, for example, is more
commonly written as 9.11 × 10−31 kg .
Second, we make use of metric prefixes. A prefix, when added to a unit, represents a power of 10
by which the measurement is multiplied.
Example 1
1 kilometer (note the prefix kilo-) is equivalent to:
1 km = 1 × 1000 m
1 km = 103 m
The prefix kilo- represents 1000 or 103 .
SI Prefixes
Prefix Symbol Power of 10 Example
nano n 10−9 nanometer (nm)
micro µ 10−6 microgram ( µ g )
milli m 10−3 milligram (mg)
centi c 10−2 centimeter (cm)
deci d 10−1 deciliter (dL)
Base Unit varies 100 meter (m)
kilo k 103 kilometer (km)
mega M 106 megagram (Mg)
giga G 109 gigameter (Gm)
Example 2
250 micrograms is equivalent to:
PH40S Mr. Smith
Unit Conversions
It is often necessary to change from one set of units to another. For example, you may have to
convert a given number of seconds into minutes, or a given number of centimeters into meters.
The procedure for converting units involves two steps.
1. Write a conversion factor.
2. Multiply the given set of units by the conversion factor to get the desired set of units.
Several examples of unit conversion will help illustrate this procedure.
Example 3
Convert 1.1 cm to meters.
Example 4
Convert 2.278 × 1011 m to kilometers.
PH40S Mr. Smith
Example 5
Convert 1 m / s to km / h .
Example 6
Convert 108 km / h to m / s .
Homework
Measurement Worksheet
PH40S Mr. Smith
Measurement Worksheet
1. Convert each of the following length measurements as directed.
a. 1.1 cm to meters. b. 76.2 nm to millimeters.
c. 2.1 km to meters. d. 2.278 × 1011 m to centimeters.
2. Convert each of the following measurements to meters.
a. 42.3 cm b. 21 km c. 0.023 mm
d. 214 µ m e. 570 nm
3. Convert each of the following mass measurements to its equivalent in kilograms.
a. 147 g b. 11 Mg
c. 7.23 µ g d. 478 mg
4. Rank the following mass measurements from smallest to largest: 11.6 mg, 1021 µ g ,
0.000006 kg, 0.31 mg.
5. Express each of the following measurements in terms of the basic SI unit. (e.g. 1.6 km =
1600 m)
a. 0.56 km b. 75 cm c. 3224 mm
d. 655 mm e. 961 µ m f. 7564 g
g. 252 g h. 52 µs i. 15 years
6. Convert each of the following velocities as directed.
a. 25 m/s to km/h. b. 90 km/h to m/s. c. 75 km/h to m/s.
d. 15 m/s to km/h. e. 225 km/h to m/s.
PH40S Mr. Smith
Measurement Worksheet Key
1. (a) 0.011 m (b) 76.2 × 10−6 mm (c) 2 100 m (d) 2.278 × 1013 cm
2. (a) 0.423 m (b) 21 000 m (c) 2.3 × 10−5 m (d) 2.14 × 10−4 m
(e) 5.7 × 10−7 m
3. (a) 0.147 kg (b) 11 000 kg (c) 7.23 × 10−9 kg (d) 4.78 × 10−4 kg
4. 0.31 mg, 1021 µ g , 0.000006 kg, 11.6 mg
5. (a) 560 m (b) 0.75 m (c) 3.224 m (d) 0.655 m
−4
(e) 9.61 × 10 m (f) 7.564 kg (g) 0.252 kg (h) 5.2 × 10−5 s
(i) 4.7304 × 108 s
6. (a) 90 km/h (b) 25 m/s (c) 20.83 m / s (d) 54 km/h
(e) 62.5 m/s
PH40S Mr. Smith
