Converting+units

Unit Conversion Practice

Physical Science Handout Intro Unit: Measurement **Unit Conversions** M k h da BASE d c m ų
 * Guidelines for Converting:**
 * 1) What **units** are you starting with?
 * Are they a **base unit**?
 * If not, what is the base unit?
 * What does the **prefix** mean?
 * 1) What unit are you converting to?
 * Are they a **base unit**?
 * If not, what does the **prefix** mean?
 * 1) If your first unit is not the base unit, how many of the first unit are in the base unit? Is it a smaller or larger unit?
 * 2) Use the “stairstep” method.

Example: Convert 15900 mg to g. Alternative method: 15900 mg to g
 * 1) I am starting with mg. mg = milligrams
 * 2) mg is Not a base unit
 * 3) What is my Base unit? g= grams
 * 4) What does the prefix m mean? milli = 0.001
 * 5) I am converting to g.
 * 6) That is the Base unit
 * 7) Is this going from a big unit to a small unit or a small unit to a big unit? mg is smaller than g. So, I must have a smaller number than I started with.
 * 8) There are 1000 mg in 1 g. or 1000mg=1g
 * 9) “stairstep” How many decimal places do you need to move? _ 15900. mg = 1 5 9 0 0 0 g (put the decimal where it belongs)

Intro Unit