UNDERSTANDING MEASUREMENT AND SI The names of most SI units (those with capitalized symbols) honor the

scientists who discovered the laws for the corresponding quantity. It is truly
 Topic: Measurement and SI an international system. Only two of the 30 SI units (meter and kilogram)
were part of the original metric system introduced in France in the 1790s.
 Objective:
Students will use measurement units to solve problems and convert between Base(fundamental) & derived units (Table 1) A quantity is a physical
measurement systems. measurement, such as length, time, volume, area, energy, temperature, and
mass. Hundreds of different quantities are used in science, technology, and
 Contextualization: everyday life. Quantities are represented with italic letter symbols. A specific
quantity consists of a number times a unit. A unit is a standard of
Review different units of measure and when to use each one. Answer measurement. Units are represented with normal (upright) letter symbols.
which unit of measure you would use to find…: For simplicity, we usually write units with symbols rather than spelling them
• Length of a pencil? out. For example, 5 m is a quantity (length) consisting of the number 5 times
• Distance from home plate to 2nd base? the unit meter (m).
• Distance between two cities?
• Time it takes to write your name?
• Time it takes to write a paragraph?
• Time it takes to take GED test?
• Time it takes to complete a college class?

 Concepts:

The International System of Units, abbreviated SI, is the simplified modern

version of the various metric systems. Most metric units are not part of SI, so
don’t call it “the metric system.

History. SI was introduced in 1960. However, its roots go back a century

earlier when British scientists developed the first coherent measurement
system, based on physical laws and metric base units. SI is governed by the
General Conference of Weights and Measures (CGPM), an international
treaty organization founded in 1875. The United States is a charter member.
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Table 1

The SI unit of speed is therefore meter per second—the unit of length

divided by the unit of time. In symbols, you can show division three different
ways: a slash, horizontal bar, or negative exponent. For example, you may
write “8 meters per second” as

The slash and negative-exponent styles keep everything neatly on one line,
while the horizontal-bar style is useful in calculations, for ease in canceling.
 CONVERSION OF UNITS
Sometimes it is necessary to convert units from one system to another.
Conversion factors between the SI units and conventional units of length are
as follows:

A list of length conversion factors can be found in the table:

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 Examples:

 Worksheet:

Convert the measuring units as indicated.

1. 60 in = _____ ft
2. 132 in = _____ ft
3. 36 ft = _____ yd
4. 24 ft = _____ yd
5. 4 ft = ______ in
6. 27 ft = _____ yd
7. 2 yd = ______ ft
8. 30 ft = _____ yd
9. 5 yd = ______ ft
10. 8 ft = ______ in
11. 144 in = _____ ft
12. 72 in = _____ ft
13. 7 ft = ______ in
14. 10 ft = ______ in
15. 108 in = _____ ft
16. 33 ft = _____ yd
17. 6 yd = ______ ft

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