SI units and prefixes

SI units are the standard units for a measurement

You need to be able to remember kilo, hecto, deca, deci,

centi, milli

You need to be able to convert between these units

 SI units and prefixes
NASA once lost a $125 million spaceship because 2 design
teams were using different units
 SI units and prefixes
To avoid losing multimillion dollar spacecraft we use SI
(standard internationale) units

You need to remember the standard unit for length, mass,

time, temperature, and amount of substance
 SI units and prefixes
Time – second (s)
 SI units and prefixes
Mass – kilogram (kg)
 SI units and prefixes
Length – meter (m)
 SI units and prefixes
Temperature – Kelvin (K)
0 Kelvin is the coldest possible temperature (-278°C)
1 Kelvin is equal to 1 °C
 SI units and prefixes
Amount of substance – mole (mol)
 SI units and prefixes
Prefixes are used to say very large of very small number
easily

Deci = 10-1 = 0.1

Kilo = 103 = 1000
Centi = 10-2 = 0.01
Hecto = 102 = 100
Milli = 10-3 = 0.001
Deca = 101 = 10
(Unit = 100 = 1)
SI units and prefixes
 SI units and prefixes
You need to be able to convert between units

It can be confusing whether the number will be bigger or

smaller

If you move from kilo to milli the number will be bigger

Think 1 meter contains 100 centimeters

SI units and prefixes
 SI units and prefixes
Have a try! What is:

100 km in cm? km = 103, cm = 10-2 therefore times by 100,000. 10 km = 1,000,0

cm

15 ds in ms? ds = 10-1, ms = 10-3 therefore times by 100. 15 ds = 1500 ms

34 hK in cK? hK = 102, cK = 10-2 therefore times by 10,000. 34 hK = 340,000 cK

 SI units and prefixes
Have a try! What is:

100 mm in cm?mm = 10-3, cm = 10-2 therefore divide by 10. 100 mm = 10 cm

15 hs in ks? hs = 102, ks = 103 therefore divide by 10. 15 hs = 1.5 ks

27 cm in dam?cm = 10-2, dam = 101 therefore divide by 1000. 27 cm = 0.027 dam