A Brief Overview of the
Metric System
The English or Imperial System
image credit: Ian Whitelaw
The early English inch
was defined as the length
of three barleycorns laid
end-to-end
photo credit: Andrew Robinson
King George the III of
England’s standard weights
from 1773.
The Metric System
Commemorative stamp
showing the French
Republic measuring one
quarter of the earth’s
circumference – the original
idea behind the meter
Since 1983, the meter has been
defined as the distance that light
travels in 1 299,792,458th of a second
More about the metric system
1 cm
1 cm
1 cm
photo credit: Harry Turner, National Reseach Council of Canada
A cube of water with
sides each 1 cm has a
mass of 1 gram
The Canadian Standard Kilogram.
The kilogram is the only unit in the
metric system defined by an actual
object.
The nickel has a mass of 5
grams
Units of Measurement
Seven Base Units of the SI System:
1.
Length = Meter (m)
2.
Mass = Kilogram (kg) ; Metric = Gram (g)
3.
Time = Second (s)
4.
Electric Current = Ampere (A)
5.
Temperature = Kelvin (K) ; Metric = Celsius (°C)
6.
Luminous Intensity = Candela (cd)
7.
Amount of Substance = Mole (mol)
•
The degree Celsius is the common unit for the measurement of
temperature.
•
Technical calculations involving temperature must, however, use kelvin.