world and be "totally metric." By resisting change, we certainly affected the understanding of scientific measurement throughout this country. For example, ask a student how many miles it from his home to the nearest neighborhood school. He likely can give you an approximate value. Now ask him how many kilometers it is. Do you think he has any idea using this unit of measure? If we do not use metric units in our everyday lives, how can we expect to have a "mental picture" for how big or small a metric measurement is? Furthermore, how are in metric? can our students fully comprehend our science textbooks if all the units of measure Let's see why metric is better!!!!! Giga Mega Kilo (billion) Hecto Deka unit deci centi milli micro nano (million) (thousand) (hundred) (ten) (tenth) (hundredth) (thousanth0 (millionth) (billionth) 109 106 103 102 101 100 10-1 10-2 10-3 106 10-9 What do you know about the relationship between each step on the "metric stair"? Because of this relationship, converting from one metric unit to the next only involves moving the decimal point. For example: 100g = kilograms; 20 meters = cm; 10,000 microliters = milliliters Prefixes to the " left " of the basic unit step are more appropriate for quantities (larger or smaller) Prefixes to the "right" of the basic unit step are more appropriate for quantities (larger or smaller) For example, the distance from here to Baltimore would most conveniently be measured in (millimeters, meters, kilometers) The time it would take a bullet to pass in front of your face would most conveniently be measured in (milliseconds, seconds, kiloseconds)