Physical Science and Measuring Systems

Physical Science – the study of the properties of matter and energy

Property – a feature or characteristic

Matter – the “stuff” things are made of…more formally…Matter is anything that has mass and volume (takes up space)

Energy – anything not made up of atoms (matter) is energy. Energy is the ability to change matter

Some preperties of Matter – color, shape, density, texture, flexibility, smell, taste, weight, conductivity –ability to conduct heat and malleability – ability to be bent into thin layers

2 Kinds of Properties

  1. Qualitative Properties – describe qualities such as color, shape or other descriptive terms
  1. Quantitative Properties – uses measurement of features or characteristics

Measurement – Using Tools

To read measurements:

  1. Read the numbers – counting by ?
  2. Count the spaces between them – (Not the lines)
  3. Find the difference between the 2 number readings divided by the number of spaces

Example: difference 10 = 2

Spaces 5

Measuring Systems

Measuring systems evolve over time

Beginning with Hunting-Gathering societies:

Hunters – Gatherers – people who hunted and gathered their food. They did not need to trade. They did not need to communicate. They moved from one place to another following the food supply. They did not need a measurement system.

Agricultural Societies

People no longer needed to travel in order to follow moving herds or depleted locations. They found out how seed and farm for food. This allowed them to settle in one place. Then they began trading foods and materials

Measuring became necessary due to trade and the need to communicate. People needed to invent a measuring system in order to communicate.

NOTE: In order to Trade, you need to Communicate

In order to Trade and Communicate, you needed a standard measure

Standard Measure – an amount everyone agrees with to use for comparison

Measuring Systems:

First Measuring Systems were based on body parts

  • Span = distance from pinky finger to thumb with a flat palm
  • Hand = lengthy of 4 fingers turned sideways
  • Cubit – distance from elbow to middle finger
  • Foot = the size of your foot
  • Pace = a giant step

Advantages of the Body Parts System

  • You always have your tools with you
  • Everyone can relate to it

Disadvantages of the Body Parts System

  • Everyone has different size body parts

NOTE: When trade becomes more widespread, the body system doesn’t work anymore

England – has the largest navy and trades with countries all over the world

  • She wanted all the countries she traded with to use her system of measurement and shw got her way because she had the largest navy and the biggest trade
  • King of England steps in and standardizes the measurements in his country
  • He measures the distance from his outstretched arm to his nose and calls it a yardstick
  • Then hundreds of yardsticks are made from that model
  • The English System develops

The English System includes the following units (and more)

Tbspintsinchesounces

Tspquartfeetpounds

Ouncesgallonsyardstons

Cupsbarrelmiles

*These units are already in place – developed by people over time

The King of England took these units and standardized them

Advantages of the English System of Measurement

  1. Same for everybody
  2. We can all trade and communicate

Disadvantages of the English System of Measurement

  1. No Pattern !
  2. Too many units
  3. Not reproducible – can’t make it yourself

1790’s - A group of scientists meet in FRANCE

  • They start from scratch (begin all over) and invent a system based on the size of the earth
  • They decided to base their measuring system on the EARTH – not body parts
  • Scientists already knew the size of the Earth and invented the meter
  • Meter = 1/10,000,000 the distance from the equator to the North Pole
  • (They used a shadow to determine the length of a meter – now making it reproducible)
  • Note – you can make your own meter stick by putting a stick in the ground and waiting a certain amount of time and then measuring the length of its shadow – so this system is reproducible
  • Using the meter gave us a way to measure distance. ….but what about weight and liquid measurement?
  • They used meter sticks to build a box 1000cm in length, 1000 cm in width, and 1000cm in depth = 1000cm cubed
  • They called this liter and now we had a liquid measure
  • They decided that 1 liter of water = 1 kilogram – and now they had a weight
  • SO……
  • the meter – measures distance
  • the gram –measures mass
  • the liter –measures liquid

THIS SYSTEM WAS CALLED - LE SYSTEME INTERNATIONALE DE UNITE

We call it the SI or Metric System because it all started with the meter.

* They needed to come up with smaller and larger units and they did this by using prefixes added to the base unit….example…KILO means 1000…so a KILOMETER = 1000 meters

Metric Base Units

Meter - measures distance ( 1 meter = 39 inches)

Gram – measures mass ( 1 g = about the mass of a paper clip)

Liter - measures liquid ( 1 L = about a quart)

Metric Prefixes

(Lets us measure item too large or small for the base units)

Kilo1000

Hecto100

Deca10

Base(one gram, meter, Liter, volt, joule, etc)

Deci0.1

Centi0.01

Milli0.001

Memorize the Prefixes

Khdamdcm

Khdbdcm

Ieeaeei

Lccscnl

OtaeItl

OIi

Helpful Mnemonic

KHDMDCM

Khdmdcm

Ieuaaau

Nnnnnkf

Grkyief

ysssi

hn

h

Converting the Metric System

Problem: I need 2.5 L of acid, but I only have a 100mL graduated cylinder. How many mL is 2.5L?

2.5 L = ______mLK h d m d c m

I need to go from L to mL…so I need to move my

decimal 3 places to the right.

Answer:2.5 L = 2500 mL

4 Steps for Metric Conversions

  1. Write the prefixes in order (k h d m d c m)
  2. Determine the direction you need to move the decimal point
  3. Count how many units you need to move
  4. Move the decimal point