MEASUREMENTS

METRIC SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT:

The metric system is a system of measuring. It has three main units:

m		the metre for length
kg		the kilogram for mass
s		the second for time

With those three simple measurements
we can measure nearly everything in the world!

Examples:

Metre

The length of this guitar is about 1 metre:		When unfolded this ruler measures 2 metres:

Kilogram

This gold bar has a mass of 1 kilogram.

A dictionary also has a mass of about 1 kilogram.

Second

1 second is about as long as it takes
to say "one thousand and one" Larger or Smaller

But what if we want to talk about really big or really small things?

Answer: we can use Metric Number Prefixes

• like "kilo" (a thousand)
• and "milli" (one thousandth)
• and so on

Examples:

something that is 1,000 metres is a "kilometre"
a very short time of one thousandth of a second is a "millisecond"

In fact the kilogram already uses this method, as it's a thousand grams, a kilogram.

Here is a quick summary of the special prefixes:

Common Big and Small Numbers

Name	The Number	Prefix	Symbol
trillion	1,000,000,000,000	tera	T
billion	1,000,000,000	giga	G
million	1,000,000	mega	M
thousand	1,000	kilo	k
hundred	100	hecto	h
ten	10	deka	da
unit	1
tenth	0.1	deci	d
hundredth	0.01	centi	c
thousandth	0.001	milli	m
millionth	0.000 001	micro	µ
billionth	0.000 000 001	nano	n
trillionth	0.000 000 000 001	pico	p