If you show a good knowledge of the English measurement system,

you can skip all test questions related to the metric system.

If these are one quart each, how many gallons are here?

Strawberries and other fruits are often sold in one quart containers. Are these quarts the same size as a quart of strawberry juice?

What does 8 quarts of strawberries make?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. • How many ounces of gold does it take to make a pound?

• This is a cap from a RC cola bottle? How much does the RC cola weigh?

You don’t know what it weighs because here the 16 OZ. stands for fluid ounces.

It’s not 16, because gold is measured in troy ounces, which takes 12 troy ounces to make a pound

These are 16 oz gloves. How many pounds do each weigh?

The ounces that are used as weight for most items are called avoirdupois ounces. “Avoirdupois” means to have weight.

1 pound each.

Apothecary System used in medicine

• Based on the weight of one grain of wheat.

• 20 grains make a scruple

• 3 scruples make a dram

• 8 drams make a ounce

• 12 ounces make a pound (troy pound)

Here is a story about a project that shows the importance of knowing units of measurement. It’s about the Mars Climate Orbiter space probe.

Millions of dollars and several years of work were put into building this Mars space probe that was going to be able to analyze weather and take pictures of Mars’ surface.

Careful work under “clean room” conditions helped guarantee its success. Also, notice the scales holding the probe to keep accurate control of its mass, which of course is important in space travel.

On December 11, 1998 the Mars Climate Orbiter was launched using a Delta rocket. All systems looked good.

On September 23, 1999 (nine months later), the Mars Climate Orbiter was scheduled to begin its orbit of Mars and begin its mission of collecting climate data.

However, something went wrong, and the space probe was lost.

• The loss of the the Mars Climate Orbiter on September 23, 1999, was a most unfortunate and highly avoidable event.

• The cause of the mishap has been traced to a mix-up over units. Preliminary findings indicated that one team used English units (e.g., inches, feet and pounds) while the other used metric units for maneuvers required to place the spacecraft in the proper Mars orbit.

• The 'root cause' of the loss of the spacecraft was the failed translation of English units into metric units.

• For nearly three centuries, engineers and scientists have been struggling with the English units.

• The loss of the the Mars Climate Orbiter on September 23, 1999, was a most unfortunate and highly avoidable event.

• The cause of the mishap has been traced to a mix-up over units. Preliminary findings indicated that one team used English units (e.g., inches, feet and pounds) while the other used metric units for maneuvers required to place the spacecraft in the proper Mars orbit.

• The 'root cause' of the loss of the spacecraft was the failed translation of English units into metric units.

• For nearly three centuries, engineers and scientists have been struggling with the English units.

• The loss of the the Mars Climate Orbiter on September 23, 1999, was a most unfortunate and highly avoidable event.

• The cause of the mishap has been traced to a mix-up over units. Preliminary findings indicated that one team used English units (e.g., inches, feet and pounds) while the other used metric units for maneuvers required to place the spacecraft in the proper Mars orbit.

• The 'root cause' of the loss of the spacecraft was the failed translation of English units into metric units.

• For nearly three centuries, engineers and scientists have been struggling with the English units.

• The loss of the the Mars Climate Orbiter on September 23, 1999, was a most unfortunate and highly avoidable event.

• The cause of the mishap has been traced to a mix-up over units. Preliminary findings indicated that one team used English units (e.g., inches, feet and pounds) while the other used metric units for maneuvers required to place the spacecraft in the proper Mars orbit.

• The 'root cause' of the loss of the spacecraft was the failed translation of English units into metric units.

• For nearly three centuries, engineers and scientists have been struggling with the English units.

In weightlessness 454 grams is still 454 grams; however, 1 pound will be zero

pounds in zero gravity.• What is the English unit for mass?

In the English system the unit for mass is the slug.

English system of weight does not lend itself to space travel.

The mass called slug is not a real slug like here, but it has the same name. The slug of mass would weigh 32 lbs on Earth.

Weight versus Mass

Remember weight is the pull of gravity on mass. This dirigible might weigh zero lbs because air under is lifting up on it. However, it still has considerable mass. In the metric system of grams and kilograms, they are talking about mass, not weight (which is a force)

Another English unit is BTUThis air conditioner is rated at 18,000 BTU per hour.

What does BTU stand for and what does it measure?

British Thermal Units = Energy to raise or lower 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit

Seabiscuit’s races like most horse races goes for 10 furlongs. How far is that?

1 furlong (an English unit) is 1/81 furlong (an English unit) is 1/8 thth of of mile. So 10 furlongs is 1 ¼ miles.mile. So 10 furlongs is 1 ¼ miles.

What if gallons were differentsizes in different cities?

What if clothing sizes weredifferent in different cities?

In his first annual message to Congress (1790 January), President George Washington pressed for uniformity in currency, weights, and measures. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson urged Congress to reduce the existing separate systems of dry and liquid measures to one set of measures.

Over 200 years later, we still have separate systems. For example, our dry quart is larger than our liquid quart, so four cups of flour and 4 cups of milk should be measured with separate measuring devices-which differ in size!

Jefferson's second plan put before Congress was to reduce every branch [of measurement] to the same decimal ratio already established for coin, and thus bring the calculations of the principal affairs of life within the arithmetic of every man who can multiply and divide plain numbers.

Congress took no action.  Washington urged action again in his second annual message to Congress (1790 December 08) and the House referred the matter to the Senate, whose committee in this matter declined (1791 March 01) due to negotiations in progress with the French and British Governments to obtain an international standards of measurements.

In the same year of 1790 King Louis XVI of France was also weary of the inconsistencies of measurement that was hurting trade.

He ordered a new system of measurements be developed.

Earlier in that century, Fahrenheit and Celsius used water as the basis of their thermometers. Their thermometers were calibrated using water, which everyone had access to. This made their thermometers useful.

Everyone has access to the Earth, so this new system was to be based on the size of the Earth.

The idea was to measure a part of Earth’s surface over a few degrees, then calculate distance from Equator to North Pole.

A survey team was suppose to measure the distance between Barcelona, Spain going through Paris and up to the English Channel.

A survey team accurately measured the distance from Barcelona, Spain through Paris, and to the English Channel. They also measured how many degrees the angle was on the Earth. From this they could calculate the distance from the equator to the North Pole.

By dividing the distance from the equator to the north pole by 10 million, a convenient length was defined.

It was a little longer than a yard, and the name would be from the Greek word, Metron,

meaning to measure.

Circumference of the Earth would then be 40,000,000 meters if ¼ was 10 million.

In kilometers, that would be 40,000 kilometers.

Based on 10 & using Arabic Numerals

Since the number system in use was no longer Roman Numerals, but the decimal number system borrowed from the Arab worlds and from India, the measurement system should also be based on 10 to make conversions easy.

Since we have 10 fingers, a number system based on 10 was developed.

Place Value

Roman Numerals did not take advantage of place value. X in Roman Numerals meant ten. XXX meant thirty. It didn’t matter where the X was placed; it always had the value of 10

Modern number systems use place value. In other words, a numeral has a different value depending where it’s placed.

4/20/01

0.5 versus 5

Multiplying & Dividing by 10• Because of place value, we can multiply

by ten by moving all digits to the left (or you can look at it as the decimal point moving to the right.)

• 25. x 10 = 250.• Dividing by 10 is just the reverse.

Decimal

• The word decimal from from Latin decimalis meaning “of a tithe” A tithe was traditionally one tenth of income, so deci- meant one tenth.

• The new measuring system should also be based on tens and tenths.

The Metric system gets all of its measurement from Earth and water while following the simplicity of 10 fingers.

CubitsYardsMilesNautical MilesFeetHandsInchesLeaguesChainsFurlongs

All these English measurements can be eliminated by going to the meter.

sq. milessq. yardssq. ft.sq. in.acres

BarrelCubin inchesCubic feetCubic yardsMinimsDrops

Gallons, imperial gallons, quarts, pints, fluid ounces, pecks, bushels

1/1000 of a cubic meter is a cubic decimeter which we refer to a a Liter.

1/1000 of a liter is a cubic centimeter also called a milliliter.

You are not changing the size, just the name.

Convert 0.15 meters to centimeters

0.15 meters = centimeters

Starting amount End Amount

.01

1 centi

0.15 meters = 15 meters100

= 15 centimeters

If saying 15 hundredths, just say 15 centi-

equal

Convert 5234 millimeters to meters

5234 millimeters = meters

Starting amount End Amount

milli

0.001

5234 millimeters 5234 meters1000

equal

Convert 5234 millimeters to centimeters

5234 millimeters = centimeters

Starting amount End Amount

milli

0.001

5234. millimeters

equal equal

0.01

centi

523.4 centimeters

Convert 5234 millimeters to inches

5234 millimeters = inches

Starting amount End Amount

milli

0.001

equal equal

0.01

centi 2.54 cm

1 inch

1 inch

2.54 cm

I wonder how many pennies are in

1 mega buck?

= cents1 M$

M

10x 1 6

$

cents 100 1 x 108

Units Match!

Convert 21 grams per liter (21 g/L) to milligrams per milliliter (mg/mL)

21 gramsLiter

= mgmL

Starting amount End Amount

milli

0.001

equal equal

0.001

milli

Convert 21 mg per liter (21 g/L) to grams per 100 cc

21 mgLiter

= g 100cc

Starting amount End Amount

0.001

milli

equal equal

1L1000cc

0.10.1

equal

mega- M million 1,000,000 106

kilo- k thousand 1,000 103 kilograms

deci- d tenth 1/10 = 0.1 10-1 dm3=litercenti- c hundredth 1/100 = 0.01 10-2 cm=centimeter

cc=cubic cmmilli- m thousandth 1/1000 = 0.001 10-3 mg=milligram

mL=millilitermicro- µ millionth 1/1,000,000

= 0.00000110-6 µg=microgram

nano- n billionth 1/1,000,000,000= 0.000000001

10-9 nm=nanometers

Examples

Metric facts: 1 cubic centimeter = 1 milliliter (1 cc=1mL)Liter = 1 cubic decimeter = 1,000 cubic centimeters = 1,000 millilitersLower case “m” stands for meter or “milli”. Capital “L” for liter.