[jandlmcclain]

 

I'm in my first Chemistry class/8th grade, and I need help please.  We don't have our text books yet, which makes things even more difficult.  When we ask the teacher a question, he says "moving right along..." 

Although I'd like the answers, I'd really like to know how to figure them out for myself so I'll know how to do so in the future. 

I need to solve the following:

1.  How many METERS are in a CENTIMETER?
2.  HOW many CENTIMETERS are there in a KILOMETER?
3. SQUARE CENTIMETERS are in a cubic meter?  (is that a trick question or something)?
and, finally, the last one I don't know how to solve
If a garden measures 15 meters by 12 meters, what is the area of the garden in meters and what is the area of this garden in square feet assuming that 1 m = 3.3 feet.  What would the area of the garden be in square centimeters? 

Thanks so much for any help explaining to me how to solve these.  I want to learn how and want to do well in this class. 

[Borek]

Give us a hint: what you know, what you don't.

[Shea]

http://www.easysurf.cc/menumt.htm#select1

I just go there for any conversions I want to make...

And this site has tables that tell you the relationship between the units.

http://www.metricconversion.us/

[P-man]

OK, sorry if I am a bit bias, obnoxious, or arrogant, but I grew up in France and I don't understand people who don't understand the metric system. All you need to know is this: milli- means a thousandth: 1000 millimeters in a meter. Centi- means one hundredth: one hundred centimeters in a meter. Kilo- means one thousand: one thousand meters in a kilometer, and one thousand grams in a kilogram. There are also others such as the hectameter, decagram, etc., but you don't really need to know that, unless you are a merchant.

I hope this helps you understand the metric system. Really it is so easy, much much easier than the imperial system. In fact, I do not understand the imperial system and I was born in Canada and have lived a total of 9 years here and 5 years in France. It is way too complicated.

[Donaldson Tan]

I hope this helps you understand the metric system. Really it is so easy, much much easier than the imperial system. In fact, I do not understand the imperial system and I was born in Canada and have lived a total of 9 years here and 5 years in France. It is way too complicated.

I toured France, but I have never been to Canada. Wow..

Btw, a square centimeter is a unit of area, whereas the cubic metre is a unit of volume.

1m = 100cm
1m² = 100²cm² = 10000cm²

1m = 3.3ft
1m² = 3.3²ft² = 10.89ft²

[billnotgatez]

Sometime ago I memorized that 1 inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters and it has made my life better.

http://www.convert-me.com/en/

[constant thinker]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_prefix

That's a table of the SI prefixes. I'm sorry, but you have to memorize it. Once you do though it'll help you understand the relationships between a meter and a kilometer. Kilo-, centi-, and milli- are probably the 3 most important. Also you need to memorize what each unit is used for. Meters=distance, grams=weight, etc.

Personally, I live in the U.S. and I wish we'd just switch to the metric system. It's much easier being based on 10's then our weird system of 12 inches in a foot, 36 in (3 ft) in a yard, etc. Also liters is easier than quarts and gallons, because of once again the SI prefixes, and everything based on 10.

[xiankai]

Also liters is easier than quarts and gallons,

and a nightmare when u open a kitchen recipe book

[Borek]

Also liters is easier than quarts and gallons,

and a nightmare when u open a kitchen recipe book

Liter is a nightmare? You must be joking

[P-man]

Sorry, but that is one invention that the French can be proud of: the metric system.

[NYM]

I agree, I think the metric system is a lot more intuitive compared to the US customary system!

But what about the Planck units http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_units
My physics teacher always jokes about it :p

[Donaldson Tan]

Planck's unit are based on properties of free space.

Martians (if they exist) can reproduce these quantities of measurement even if there is no Cs atom on Mars to define 1s.

[P-man]

And you expect the average person to understand that?

[Donaldson Tan]

Martians (if they exist) can reproduce these quantities of measurement even if there is no Cs atom on Mars to define 1s.

The second is defined as the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the Caesium-133 atom at 0K. If Caesium (Cs) is not natively present on Mars, how can the Martians reproduce the required oscillations to define one second? This problem is resolved by using the properties of free space which is present all over the universe. An example of a free space property is  permittivity. Physical units of measurement which is based on the properties of free space can be reproduced anywhere in the universe.

[xiankai]

Martians (if they exist) can reproduce these quantities of measurement even if there is no Cs atom on Mars to define 1s.

i thought we were talking about planck units; martians have no way of knowing how the 'second' came about.