For this reason, an objects weight would be different if it was weighed on Earth or on the moon because of the difference in the gravitational forces. Weight is a measure of the pull of gravity on an object. You may notice that the word mass is used here instead of weight. In the sciences and technical fields, a distinction is made between weight and mass. A regular-sized paperclip has a mass of about 1 gram.Īmong scientists, one gram is defined as the mass of water that would fill a 1-centimeter cube. The basic metric unit of mass is the gram. A meter is slightly larger than a yardstick, or just over three feet. In the metric system, the basic unit of length is the meter. Note that the names of all metric units follow from these three basic units. The table below shows the basic units of the metric system. customary system, where 3 feet equals 1 yard, and 16 ounces equals 1 pound. For now, notice how this idea of getting bigger or smaller by 10 is very different than the relationship between units in the U.S. This means that a meter is 100 times larger than a centimeter, and a kilogram is 1,000 times heavier than a gram. The metric system also applies the idea that units within the system get larger or smaller by a power of 10. Notice that the word meter is part of all of these units. In addition to the difference in the basic units, the metric system is based on 10s, and different measures for length include kilometer, meter, decimeter, centimeter, and millimeter. customary system uses feet, quarts, and ounces to measure these. The metric system uses units such as meter, liter, and gram to measure length, liquid volume, and mass, just as the U.S.
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Learning about the different scales, including how to convert between them will help you figure out what the weather is going to be like, no matter which country you find yourself in. We will also explore temperature scales. In the United States, temperatures are usually measured using the Fahrenheit scale, while most countries that use the metric system use the Celsius scale to record temperatures. In this section we will discover the basic units used in the metric system, and show how to convert between them. So, what if you have to find out how many milligrams are in a decigram? Or, what if you want to convert meters to kilometers? Understanding how the metric system works is a good start. customary systemthere are 12 inches in a foot, and 3 feet in a yard and 5,280 feet in a mile! This idea of ∱0 is not present in the U.S. For example, a liter is 10 times larger than a deciliter, and a centigram is 10 times larger than a milligram. customary system of measurement, the metric system is based on 10s. These measurement units are part of the metric system. People in many countries use words like kilometer, liter, and milligram to measure the length, volume, and weight of different objects.
If you travel to other countries, you will see that road signs list distances in kilometers and milk is sold in liters. In most other countries, the metric system is the primary system of measurement. customary measurement system and the metric system are used, especially in medical, scientific, and technical fields. Convert from one temperature scale to the other, using conversion formulas.State the freezing and boiling points of water on the Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature scales.Solve application problems using metric units.
Define the metric prefixes and use them to perform basic conversions among metric units.customary units and metric units of length, weight/mass, and volume Describe the general relationship between the U.S.