The Metric System

1. Metric Units:

ºC, Kdegrees Celsius,

kelvinstemperature

g/cm3

(or g/mL)

gram/cubic cm(or gram/milliliter)

density

L or cm3liter or cubic cmvolume

ggrammass

mmeterdistance

SymbolUnitMeasurement

2. Metric Prefixes:

• kilo-

= 0.001 or 1/1000

• deci-

• centi-

• milli-

= 0.1 or 1/10

= 0.01 or 1/100

= 1000

• hecto- = 100

• deka- = 10

Prefix Symbol Multiplying Factor

k

h

da

d

c

m

3. Mass, Volume, and Density1. Mass measures the amount of matter

in an object.mass is always the same; weight changes depending on gravity

2. Volume measures the space that matter occupies

calculated by l . w . h (or by the displacement of water)

3. Density is the proportion of mass in an object to its volume

density = mass/volume = g/cm3 (or g/mL)

4. Converting Metric UnitsThe following sentence helps convert

between metric units:

King Henry danced merrily down central Main

mcdmdahk

Not a prefix. Can be L or g

km hm dam m dm cm mm

Problem 1: 23 cm = _______ m

1. Which unit is already known? Centimeters. Find cm on the chart.

2. Count “hops” to the other unit, and pay attention to the direction: 2 hops left.

3. Move the decimal the same number of hops in the same direction. 23 is 23.0, so two

hops left yields 0.23. This would now be meters, so 0.23 m.

kg hg dag g dg cg mg

Problem 2: _______ dg = 8.65 kg

1. Which unit is already known? Kilograms. Find kg on the chart.

2. Count “hops” to the other unit, and pay attention to the direction: 4 hops right.

3. Move the decimal the same number of hops in the same direction. Four hops right yields 86,500. This would now be decigrams, so 86,500 dg.

kL hL daL L dL cL mL

Problem 3: How many dekaliters is 29.5 milliliters?

1. Rewrite the problem: _____ daL = 29.5 mL2. Which unit is already known?

Milliliters. Find mL on the chart.3. Count “hops” to the other unit, and pay

attention to the direction: 4 hops left.4. Move the decimal the same number of hops in

the same direction. Four hops left yields 0.00295. This would now be dekaliters, so 0.00295 daL.