West Linn-Wilsonville School District



WLHS / Biology / MonsonNameDatePerWORKSHEET: Metric Conversions5398770102235Why use the metric system? First of all, it is easier and simpler to use than the English system that the United States most commonly uses. The metric system uses one unit of measurement for each physical quantity. For example, when measuring length, the metric system only uses meters where as the English system could use inches, feet, miles, among many others. In order to get to each unit within the English system, you would have to use a more confusing number to change to that unit. Whereas, the metric system will use the decimal system that has corresponding prefixes. Think of converting units in the metric system as moving up or down a staircase. As you move up the stairs, the units are the larger whereas if you move down the stairs the smaller are units. Depending on which direction you are going on the stairs determines which way you are going to move the decimal that many spaces. milli0.001centi0.01deci0.1deca10hecta100kilo1000If you are going down the stairs, you will move the decimal to the right. 1 gram,1 meter, or1 literIf you are going up the stairs, you will move the decimal to the left.Example 1: If you were converting 4.0 grams into kilograms, you would go up the stairs and move the decimal 3 spots to the left. Therefore there are 0.0004 kilograms in 4 grams. In the space provided below, draw the example shown by your teacher.Example 2: Now let’s say you want to know how many centiliters are in 0.23 decaliters. You are going down the stairs therefore moving your decimal 3 spaces to the right. There are 230 centiliters in 0.23 decaliters. In the space provided below, draw the example shown by your teacher.Try the following conversions using the staircase and examples on the front of this sheet. 1) You are drinking your favorite “Monster” beverage, which happens to be pomegranate. On the label you notice that all of the units are in hectoliters. How many liters are in that 0.005 hectoliter can?575119543815002) You are at the zoo with your family and you pass the elephant display. The sign in front of the display describes the habitat of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). The sign also mentions the mass of male and female in kilograms. If the mass of the male is 5400 kilograms and the mass of the female is 4160 kilograms, find the mass of each elephant in milligrams.Male:Female:3) Mr. Jones asked his son, Fred, to help with the measurements for the tool shed Mr. Jones was about to begin building. Mr. Jones looked at the measurements that Fred had written down and noticed that Fred had used centimeters. Mr. Jones needed the measurements to be in meters. Convert the follow measurements for the shed to meters.Height: 1050 cm = m561784593980Length: 1530 cm = mWidth: 845 cm =m4) Sally was trying to impress her friends by telling them that she ran 4820 meters earlier that day. How many kilometers did she run?5) In the course of the year, about 19,659,037,914 kiloliters of water passes through the Hoover Dam. That means that there is about 623 kiloliters of water passing through the dam per second! How many decaliters is that per second? _________________________6) The smallest bird in the world is the bumble bee hummingbird. It weighs about 180 centigrams. How many grams is that?7) A quarter has a mass of about 5.65 g. Express this mass in milligrams, kilograms and micrograms.5.65 g=mg=kg=?g8) Convert the volume of a soda can, 365 mL, to liters.9) A recipe calls for 300 mL of water. You add 0.25 L. Have you put in too much, too little or the right amount? Explain.10) Determine which of the following measurements is largest & which is smallest (circle the largest and put a square around the smallest measurement).1800 cm2.1 m0.0017 km4551045762000Part 2: Conversions between Metric and English measurement units.Some necessary conversion factors: EnglishMetric1 inch=2.54 cm39.4 inch=1 m1 mile=1.61 km2.2 lbs.=1 kg1.06 qts=1 L0.25 gal= 1L1) Keith’s doctor tells him that he is 182 cm tall. How tall is that, in English units (feet and inches)?2) McDonald’s makes a “Quarter Pounder” hamburger (0.25 lbs). How would this be expressed in kilograms?3) The gas station attendant fills up your car’s gas tank and tells you that she put in 38.50 liters of gas. How many gallons is this?4) Kelsey is running in a “10 K” race (10.0 kilometers). How many miles is this?5) Greg weighs 168 lbs. What is his weight in kilograms? What is his weight in milligrams? ................
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