System of Units

Metric units and English Units

S.I. / METRIC SYSTEM IMPERIAL / ENGLISH
SYSTEM
Based on the decimal
 Power of ten  Used in the United
 Most of the world uses
States
this kind of measuring
system
 SI Units
• International System of Units (from
French, 1960)
• For high and least values it uses prefixes.
• It is more convenient to use than English
units.

Example:
1kg = 1000g Units are:
1m = 1000mm Length – meters (m)
1kPa = 1000Pa Mass –gram (g)
Force – Newton (N)
Pressure – Pascals (Pa)
Temperature – Kelvin (K) and degree Celsius (°C)

Note:
We can also use
“Scientific Notation”
 US Customary Units
• Imperial Units / English units (from England, middle ages)
• For high and least values do not use prefixes.

Example:
1 kips = 1000 lbs
1 ton = 2000 lbs = 2 kips
1 ksi = 1000 psi

ksi = kilopounds per square inch

• It is more challenging to use than SI.

1ft = 12 inches
1mile = 5280 ft.

The units are:

Length – feet (ft) and inches (in)
Mass – Slugs, pound mass (lbm), ounces (oz) and Tons
Force – pound force (lbf)
Pressure – Pound per square inch (psi) and Pound per
square foot (psf)
Temperature – Rankine (R) and degree Fahrenheit (°F)
length Mass
1 cm 10 mm 1g 1000mg
1m 100 cm 1 kg 1000 g
1 km 1000 m 1T 1000 kg
1 in 2.54 cm 1 kg 2.21 lbs.
1 ft. 12 in 1 slug 14.59 kg

1m 3.28 ft
1 mile 1.609 km
 CONVERSION OF UNITS
Unit conversion is a process with multiple steps that involves multiplication or
division by a numerical factor or, particularly a conversion factor.

Conversion is the process of changing the value of one form to another for
example inches to millimeters, or liters to gallons.

If we have a given the following:

LENGTH: 1 foot (ft) = 0.3048 meters (m)
MASS : 1 kilogram (kg) = 2.2 pounds (lbₘ)
GRAVITY: 9.8066 m/s² and 32.174 ft/s²

convert the following:

1 mile (mi) to kilometers (km)

1 Newton (N) to Pound (lbf)

1 slug to kilogram (kg)

 CONVERSION OF UNITS
Unit conversion is a process with multiple steps that involves multiplication
or division by a numerical factor or, particularly a conversion factor.
Conversion is the process of changing the value of one form to another for
example inches to millimeters, or liters to gallons.

PRESSURE:
1 atm
101,325 Pascals (Pa)
14.7 Pound per square inches (psi)
2116.8 Pound per square feet (psf)

CONVERT:
14 Pa to psi
CONVERSION OF UNITS
Unit conversion is a process with multiple steps that involves multiplication
or division by a numerical factor or, particularly a conversion factor.
Conversion is the process of changing the value of one form to another for
example inches to millimeters, or liters to gallons.

AREA
In conversion of SI units to English Units always remember that the Area is
always squared or raise to power of 2.

CONVERT:
1m² convert it to ft²
300mm² convert it to in²
Practice problems
1. Convert pound per square feet to Pascals at atmospheric pressure
conditions.
2. A circle measures a diameter of 5ft. What is the measurement of its
area in terms of metric system?
3. If an aircraft is traveling at a speed of 250 miles per hour (mph).
What is the speed in meter per second?
4. Find the cross-sectional area of a box in Imperial Units if the length
and width is 5m and 3m respectively.
5. A boy exerted a 45lb force in a ball and with an acceleration of
10m/s2 find the mass of the ball in metric.
6. Convert 1925.5psf to psi and Pa respectively.
7. A circular tube has a cross sectional area of 500mm² , find its
diameter in inches (in).
8. Find the side of a square plate in centimeters, if its area is 144ft²
9. A cylinder has an inner diameter of 3in and outside diameter of 5in.
Find the cross-sectional area. Note: Cross sectional area is
difference of the area of outside and inside diameter.
10. A 150 square meter rectangular lot, has a width of 3 times of its
length. Find the length and width of the lot.