Metric System

President George Washington first proposed that the US adopt the metric system as its system of measurement. He was voted down. While nearly every country uses the metric system, only scientists in the US use it.

A suffix is a part of a word that comes at the end of a word. The metric system suffixes include:

-meter for distance
-liter for liquid volume
-gram for mass
-Celsius for temperature

A prefix is a part of a word that comes at the beginning of a word. Three of the metrics prefixes include:

kilo- means 1000 times (large amounts)
centi- means one-hundreth 1/100 (small amounts)
milli- means one-thousandth 1/1000 (very small amounts)

Sometimes the suffixes are used alone, with no prefix. Other times the prefixes will be attached to the suffixes. Common metric measures that are used in science include:

millimetercentimetermeter

milligramgramkilogram

milliliterliterkiloliter

See if you can unscramble these 10 words to make the correct metric units of measurement.

1. magr______

2. sleiuCs______

3. ermte______

4. teril______

5. olmagrki______

6. olterilki______

7. liermtelim______

8. nitermtece______

9. olermteki______

10. lilterilim______

Distance

Distance is a measurement of something’s length, width, or height.

Millimeters (mm) are used to measure the smallest distances. They are so small they can be used for measuring the length of an ant egg or the radius of a piece of hair.

Centimeters (cm) are used to measure things like the width of this paper or the height of a person.

Meters (m) are used for measuring things like the length of a room or the height of a mountain.

Kilometers (km) are used for measuring things like the distance between New York and Los Angeles.

There are many instruments used to measure distance. They include:

Odometers in cars
Meter sticks
The metric side of rulers

What does a metric ruler look like?

Look at the metric ruler below. You will see lots of little lines and every so often a much longer line marked with a number. The longer lines are centimeter (cm) marks, and the shorter lines are millimeter (mm) marks (one-tenth of a centimeter – 0.1).

What suffix is used to measure distance in the metric system? ______

What unit is used to measure very small distances? ______

What unit is used to measure the height of people? ______

What unit is used to measure very large distances? ______

How many centimeters (cm) are on this metric ruler? ______

How many millimeters (mm) are on this metric ruler? ______

Reading A Metric Ruler

Remember: The longer lines labeled with numbers are centimeters (cm) and the smaller lines are millimeters (mm).

1.0 cm 4.4 cm 8.6 cm 13.0 cm 15.7 cm

10 mm 44 mm 86 mm 130 mm 157 cm

(Since the metric system is based on the number 10, it uses decimals. To change the numbers from centimeters to millimeters the decimal was moved to the right one space.)

What is the distance?

There are letters along the bottom edge of the rulers. Write the measurement for each letter in the space next to the correct letter below.

A B C D E F

A: _____cmB: ______mmC: ______mm D: _____cm E: ______cm F: ______mm

Using a real metric ruler:

Draw a line that is 3 centimeters long.
Draw a line that is 1 centimeter long.
Draw a line that is 10 millimeters long.

How many millimeters are there in 1 centimeter?

What part of a centimeter is 1 millimeter?

Mass

Mass measures the amount of matter an item contains.

Milligrams (mg) measure the mass of very small things like a dose of medicine or vitamins in food

Grams (g) are used to measure larger things like the mass of mustard in a bottle.

Kilograms (kg) measure large things like the mass of a student

The instrument that is used to measure mass is the triple beam balance.

What does a triple beam balance look like?

Look at the triple beam balance below. It has three bars. The first bar reads individual grams (1-10). The last bar reads ONLY in 10 gram increments (10 – 100). The middle bar reads ONLY in 100 gram increments (100-500). The weights in the middle and far bars must ALWAYS sit in the “notch”. They can not be placed in between two values. The weights are on the first bar can be placed anywhere. To find the mass of an object add the three amounts up for the total.

What suffix is used to measure mass in the metric system? ______

What unit is used to measure very small amounts? ______

What unit is used to measure very large amounts? ______

What instrument is used to measure mass? ______

Reading A Triple Beam Balance

Remember: You must add up the values of all three bars to get the total mass.

Rear weight is in the notch reading...... 70 g
Middle weight is in the notch...... 300 g
Front beam weight reads...... 3.3 g

Total weight of a can of soda...... 373.3 g

What is the mass of this object?

Rear weight is in the notch reading...... ______
Middle weight is in the notch...... ______
Front beam weight reads...... ______

Total weight of object………...... ______

Volume

Used to measure the amounts of liquids in a container.

Milliliters (ml) measure small amounts of liquids like a can of soda.

Liters (l) measure larger things like gas in a car’s gas tank or water in a pool.

There are many instruments used to the volume of liquids. They include:

Beakers
Graduated Cylinders
Measuring Cups

What is the difference between a graduated cylinder and a beaker?

Graduated cylinders and beakers are read similarly to how rulers are made. Rulers are read from left to right and graduated cylinders/beakers are read from bottom to top.

Graduated Cylinders Beaker

What suffix is used to measure volume in the metric system? ______

What unit is used to measure small amounts of liquids? ______

What unit is used to measure large amounts of liquids? ______

What instruments can be used to measure the volume of liquids? ______

Reading A Graduated Cylinder

Remember: Read from the bottom up. Because the liquid is curved, you must read the bottom of the meniscus (or curve). Not all graduated cylinders are the same, so determine how each cylinder is divided.

This graduated cylinder follows units of

10. Each line between the number equals

1 ml.

The bottom of the meniscus (curve)

shows the volume of the liquid = 43 ml

What are the volumes in the following graduated cylinders?

______ml______ml

Temperature

Temperature measures how hot or cold something is.

Scientists use degrees Celsius. This is an easy unit to use because water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius and boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

The tool used to measure temperature is the thermometer.

What does a Celsius thermometer look like?

What is the suffix used to measure temperature in the metric system? ______

What temperature does water freeze? ______

What temperature does water boil? ______

If it is 0 degrees Fahrenheit outside what is it in Celsius? ______

If it is 50 degrees Fahrenheit outside what is it in Celsius? ______

If it is 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside what is it in Celsius? ______

If it is 110 degrees Fahrenheit outside what is it in Celsius? ______