Metric Conversions Larger to Smaller Units

Metric Conversions

Special Lesson Day 1 - January 17, 2022

First, what is the Metric System?

The Metric System is a system of measurement that uses base 10 measures. There are 7 different measures you can use, and each can be varied depending on what you are measuring.

Ted Ed

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There are 7 units of measure in the metric system.

They are:

​- Kilo

- Hecto

​- Deca

- Unit (meters, liters, grams)

​- Deci

-​ Centi

- Milli​

​

But, because it can be hard to remember these conversions, we use:

​King Henry Died Unexpectedly Drinking Chocolate Milk

This may seem weird, but it is an Acronym

​King	​Henry	Died​	Unexpectedly​	​Drinking	Chocolate​	​Milk
​Kilo	Hecto​	Deca​	Unit (Meters, liters, grams)​	Deci​	Centi​	Milli​

And here are the units

King​	Henry​	Died​	Unexpectedly​	​Drinking	Chocolate​	Milk​
​Kilo	Hecto​	Deca​	Unit​ (meter, liter, gram)	Deci​	Centi​	Milli​
​1,000	100​	10​	0​	1/10 (.1)​	1/100 (.01)​	1/1000 (.001)​

​- If you are going from a larger to smaller unit, divide.

If you are going from a smaller to larger unit, multiply.​

​

Here's a Picture

Convert 50 centimeters to hectometers.

Let's practice!

1. We are currently in centimeters and need to get to hectometers. We know that to go from a smaller to larger unit, we divide or move the decimal point to the left.

2.​ We need to see how many spots away hecto is from centi.

3. It is 4 spots away, so we are going to move the decimal point​ 4 spots to the left. We can also divide by 10,000.

4. 50 ÷ 10,000 = .005. If we move the decimal point 4 spots to the left, we also get .005. So, 50 cm is equal to .005 hectometers.​

Convert 19 kiloliters to liters.

One More Practice!

1. We are currently in kiloliters and need to get to liters. We know that to go from a larger to smaller unit, we multiply.

2. We see that kiloliters is 3 spots away from liters, so we need to multiply by 1,000 or move the decimal point 3 spots to the right.

3. 19 • 1,000 = 19,000. We could also move the decimal point 3 spots to the right, which would still give us 19,000.​ So, 19 kiloliters is equal to 19,000 liters.

Multiple Choice

50 grams = __ milligrams

• 50 mg

• 500 mg

• 5,000 mg

• 50,000 mg

Multiple Choice

1 millimeter = __ centimeters

• 10 cm

• 100 cm

• 1,000 cm

• 10,000 cm

The End

Complete the practice worksheet in Google Classroom.