Before we get into detail about Metric unit measurements, we must understand what exactly is a measurement. Measurements are the comparison of an unknown quantity with a known fixed quantity of the same nature. A unit measurement is nothing but a single known measure of a physical constant quantity. Now there are many systems in the world. But there are two key types of physical quantities, Scalar and Vector. We will also be seeing in detail how there are standard unit measurement systems and how they differ, their various counterparts and their corresponding measurements.

WHAT IS THE METRIC SYSTEM?

The metric system takes into consideration three key physical quantities: length, mass and volume. The unit measurements are meter for length, gram for mass and liter for volume. This system is widely used across the world except for places like the US which uses foot, ounces and quarts as per the US customary system.

The metric system is based on multiples of ten. In the sense that it has its unit measurements and subsequent measurements as exponentials of 10..

This makes it substantially easier to transfer or convert from one unit to another, as it is simply decimal shifting.

PREFIXES IN METRIC SYSTEM

As previously mentioned, the metric system operates with powers of ten. This means that the difference between two successive units of the same physical quantity is 10.

On observing this table one can get a better idea as to what the above statement means.

  • A kilogram is exactly 1,000 times larger than one gram (therefore 1 kilogram = 1,000 grams).
  • A centimeter is exactly 100 times smaller than one single meter (so hence 1 meter = 100 centimeters).
  • A deciliter is exactly 10 times smaller than one liter (so that implies 10 deciliter = 1 liters).

One must note that the prefixes of these units will remain the same for all physical quantities.

For instance :

  • 1 Kiloliter is gonna be exactly 1000 times greater than a liter.

The order of hierarchy for these prefixes is as follows:

  1. Kilo(1000 times that of base unit)
  2. Hecto (100 times that of base unit)
  3. Deka(10 times that of  base unit)
  4. Base unit (gram, meter and liter)
  5. Deci (1/10th of the base unit)
  6. Centi (1/100th of the base unit)
  7. Mili (1/1000th of the base unit)

CONVERSION OF THE METRIC SYSTEMS

There are two key elements one must be clear about before one can convert the unit measurements to other smaller or larger units of the same kind.

  • Understanding of the prefixes under the metric system
  • Clear working of the Decimal system

DECIMAL WORKING :

  • When working with Decimals, multiplication is always on the right. While division is always on the left.
  • Each shift in the decimal is a jump of a multiple of ten
  • Moving from greater unit to smaller unit, you multiply
  • Moving from a smaller unit to a bigger unit you divide

For instance if I wanna convert 1 kg into grams, you have to see which is larger and by how much. In this example, since the kilo is greater, we will multiply. Next is to check by how much. Since the kilogram is greater than gram we will multiply by 1000.

SCALAR AND VECTOR QUANTITIES

Scalar describes a quantity that has a magnitude but no definite direction.Quantities that are scalarThe magnitude of a scalar quantity is the only thing that matters (size).

31 m and 19 g for example, are both scalar values.

The following are examples of scalar quantities:

  • distance
  • speed
  • time
  • power
  • energy

When the magnitude of a scalar quantity varies, it changes.A vector is a quantity that has both a magnitude and acts in a particular direction. In other words vector quantities are those that change with both a variation in direction and a variation in magnitude

  • Displacement
  • Acceleration
  • Force
  • Weight
  • Momentum

STANDARD UNITS AND DERIVED UNITS

SI units or better known as standard international units are those that are the foundation of derived units. There exist 7 standard units of measurement:

Quantity Unit Abbreviation

  1. Length (meter)  (m)
  2. Mass (kilogram) (kg)
  3. Time (second) (s)
  4. Temperature (kelvin) (K)
  5. Amount of substance (amount of substance) (mol)
  6. Luminous intensity (candela) (cd)
  7. Electric current (ampere) (A)

Derived units are simply units that are computed or taken from these above mentioned units.

  • Volume
  • Speed
  • Velocity
  • Mass density

There exist 22 derived quantities

CONCLUSION

The metric system of units is vital in many ways that may be blind to us. The metric system ensures that there is uniformity globally and this makes many vital practices much easier. Basic things like trade, buying vegetables, getting clothes stitched, filling fuel, you name it. All of these have a key role and therefore cannot be dismissed in any way whatsoever. There however exist some other metric systems like the US customary system which incorporates other measuring quantities. However the SI or international system of units stands as the norm across the globe.