ERIE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
TITLE III
Numeric Skills Assignment
Interdisciplinary Course Materials
Biology
Course:
MT001
Course Outline Topic:
Understanding the Metric System
Conversions within the Metric System
Project Title:
Working with the Metric System
Project description:
Students will gain an understanding of metric
measurements of distance, mass and volume. Students will
practice conversions within the metric system.
Author:
Sherri Kobis – North Campus Mathematics Department
Curriculum Expert:
Thomas Franco – North Campus Biology Department
Semester Created:
Spring 2009
A.
Essential Questions
How do basic metric measurements compare to the US measurements that we
are familiar with? How do you convert measurements within the metric system?
B.
Introduction
The English system of measurement is used by most people in the United States.
This system evolved over time and cultures. Because of this, the units of measure
and abbreviations are unrelated and hard to remember. The metric system, known
also as System Internationale (SI), was created systematically by French scientists
in the 1790’s during the Napoleonic reign. The units of measure are interrelated,
systematic, and easy to remember. Each conversion within the metric system is a
power of 10. The metric system is used extensively in science and medicine, yet
it is very misunderstood and shunned by our society. In this project, you will gain
an understanding of metric measurements by comparing them to the US
measurements that you have used. You will then be asked to perform conversions
within the metric system so that you will be comfortable with the way the metric
system works. You may have to use resources such as books and the internet to
find comparisons of the metric system and the US system. You can use the
following chart to help with the conversions within the metric system.
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Exponential Conversions for the Metric System
Prefix Symbol
yotta
zetta
exa
peta
tera
giga
mega
kilo
hecto
deka
------deci
centi
milli
micro
nano
pico
femto
atto
zepto
yocto
Y
Z
E
P
T
G
M
k
h
da
-------d
c
m

n
p
f
a
z
y
Meaning
septillions
sextillions
quintillions
quadrillions
trillions
billions
millions
thousands
hundreds
tens
ones
tenths
hundredths
thousandths
millionths
billionths
trillionths
quadrillionths
quintillionths
sextillionths
septillionths
Exponential
Power
1024
1021
1018
1015
1012
109
106
103
102
101
100
10-1
10-2
10-3
10-6
10-9
10-12
10-15
10-18
10-21
10-24
Actual Number showing Zeros
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.0
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.0
1,000,000,000,000,000,000.0
1,000,000,000,000,000.0
1,000,000,000,000.0
1,000,000,000.0
1,000,000.0
1,000.0
100.0
10.0
1.0
0.1
0.01
0.001
0.000001
0.000000001
0.000000000001
0.000000000000001
0.000000000000000001
0.000000000000000000001
0.000000000000000000000001
We use… To measure…
moles (M) concentration
meters (m)
distance
grams (g)
mass
liters (L)
volume
seconds (s)
time
Hertz (Hz)
frequency
bytes (b)
information
C.
Basic Directions
Answer all questions on this paper. You must show all work in a neat and
orderly manner.
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D.
Things to Learn Before Starting the Project
You should be familiar with the basic units of measurement in the English system.
You must be familiar with the metric system and have an idea of how to convert
units within the metric system. You should also be familiar with scientific
notation.
E.
The Project Assignment
Part I: Gaining an Understanding of the Basic Metric Units
Tables that can be used to convert metric units to English units or vice versa can
be found in most mathematics books and on the internet. Rather than be concerned with
using these tables to convert units, we will be more interested in this project in gaining an
understanding of what these metric units actually mean. We will do this by comparing the
metric units to English units that you are already familiar with. You should use objects
from home and information from books or the internet to help you answer these
questions. Round all answers in this section to the nearest tenth where appropriate.
1. Distance
The basic metric unit of distance is the meter. A doorknob is
approximately one meter from the floor.
a. Approximately how many feet are in a meter?
b. Is a meter longer or shorter than a yard?
c. Compare an inch to a centimeter. Approximately how many
centimeters are in one inch?
d. Compare an inch to a millimeter. Approximately how many
millimeters are in one inch?
e. Which is longer – a mile or a kilometer? Approximately how many
kilometers are in one mile?
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2. Volume
The basic unit of volume is the liter. A liter is one-half of a two liter
bottle of pop.
a. Which is greater – a liter or a gallon? Approximately how many liters
are in a gallon?
b. Compare a milliliter to a fluid ounce. Approximately how many
milliliters are in a fluid ounce?
c. Approximately how many milliliters are in a tablespoon?
d. Approximately how many milliliters are in a cup?
3. Mass (Weight)
The basic metric unit of mass is the gram. A paper clip weighs about one
gram.
a. Compare a gram to an ounce. Approximately how many grams are in
one ounce?
b. Which is greater – a kilogram or a pound? Approximately how many
pounds are in one kilogram?
c. Would a person’s weight be a larger number in pounds or kilograms?
4. Use the information above to answer the following questions.
a. Niagara Falls and Toronto are about 130 kilometers apart.
Approximately how many miles is this? Justify your answer.
b. A person fills his gas tank in Canada with 50 liters of gas. About how
many gallons is this? Justify your answer.
c. A person weighs 70 kilograms. About how many pounds does this
person weigh? Justify your answer.
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Part II: Converting Within the Metric System
Converting measurements within the metric system is a simple matter of
multiplying or dividing by a power of 10 (for example .01, .1, 10, 100, etc). Even
simpler, you can move the decimal point to the left or to the right.
The first step is to draw a “metric line” with the basic unit in the center.
Fill in the “metric line” with the names of the metric units.
1000
100
10
Basic
________
________
________
Unit
(meter)
(liter)
(gram)
etc.
0.1
________
0.01
0.001
________
________
You can extend this metric line to work with units smaller than milli or larger than kilo.
You can use this metric line to make conversions by counting the number of places you
move and the direction in which you move on the metric line and moving the decimal in
the same manner.
You can also make conversions by multiplying or dividing by the appropriate power of 10.
Convert each of the following. (Refer to the table on page 2 for abbreviation definitions.)
1.
1 m = _______ cm
2.
1 L = _______ kL
3.
50 cm = _______ km
4.
0.05 kg = _______ dg
5.
2.5 mm = _______ hm
6.
3.002 m = _______ mm
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7.
1.5 g = _______ kg
8.
0.03 dL = _______ mL
9.
6.7 Mb = _______ Gb
10.
9.2 ms = _______ ns
Part III: Metric Conversion Situations in Science and Medicine
Answer each of the following questions. Show all work on this sheet.
1.
A patient must take 200 mg of a medication twice per day for three weeks. How
many grams of the medication should be ordered?
2.
A doctor’s office estimates that 50 patients will be administered injections of five
milliliters of a particular medicine three times a day. Approximately how many
liters of this medication will the hospital use in a 365-day year?
3.
The length of a typical cell in the human body is about 20 micrometers. How
many cells could you line up end to end to fit in one centimeter?
4.
A chemist has 8 liters of saline (salt water) solution to do her experiments. Each
experiment requires 400 milliliters. How many experiments can she perform?
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5.
The human bladder can hold up to 1.5 liters of urine when completely full. How
many dekaliters does this equate to?
6.
A particular blood test requires 3 milliliters of blood. The laboratory technician
has 0.75 liters of blood. How many blood tests can he perform?
7.
The distance from the earth to the sun is 149,000,000 kilometers. What is this
distance in gigameters?
8.
During the 2nd trimester of pregnancy, the fetus gains approximately 600 grams of
weight. How many hectograms is this?
9.
A pregnant woman receives an injection of 300 micrograms of an antibody during
her last few days of pregnancy if she and her fetus are determined to have
differing blood types. This injection prevents the mother’s immune system from
killing the fetus. If a hospital has 1 decigram of antibody, how many pregnant
women can receive the injection before the hospital has to order more?
10.
How many 50 megabyte files can be stored on a computer that has 1 terabyte of
storage?
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F.
Student Resources
MT001 textbook, www.metricmeasurements.net, www.metricamerica.com
G.
Faculty Resources
www.metricmeasurements.net, www.metricamerica.com,
www.nist.gov/public_affairs/kids/metric.htm
H.
Grading Rubric
This project is worth 100 points given the suggested point values with the answers below.
Part I: Gaining an Understanding of the Basic Metric Units
note: In this section, answers are approximate, so student answers may vary.
(+2 points for each answer. Total points for Part I = +30)
1. Distance
a. 3
b. longer
c. approximately 2.5
d. approximately 25
e. A mile is longer. 1 mile = 1.6 km
2. Volume
a. A gallon is greater. 1 gallon = 3.8 liters
b. approximately 30
c. approximately 15
d. approximately 237
3. Mass
a. approximately 28
b. A kilogram is greater. 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds
c. pounds
4.
a. approximately 81.3 miles
b. approximately 13.2 gallons
c. approximately 154 pounds
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Part II: Converting Within the Metric System
(+3 points for each answer. Total points for Part II = +30)
1. 100
2. 0.001
3. 0.0005
4. 500
5. 0.000025
6. 3002
7. 0.0015
8. 3
9. 0.0067
10. 9,200,000
Part III: Metric Conversion Situations in Science and Medicine
(+4 points for each answer. Total points for Part III = +40)
1. 8.4 grams
2. 273.8 liters
3. 500
4. 20
5. 0.15 dekaliters
6. 250
7. 149,000,000,000,000 = 149 trillion gigameters
8. 6 hectograms
9. 333
10. 20,000
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