Knowing how to convert units

You may be wondering, why should I learn how to convert units? Isn't it a waste of time since there aren't any road signs in Singapore stating "50 miles/hour"? However, what if you go on an overseas attachment or holidaying to countries like America? There, they only use miles; there is no such thing as kilometres or metres.

Furthermore, there is a huge difference between 1 cm and 1 m and its not the extra letter "c". What if your teacher asks you to bring a 15cm ruler and you bring a 15m one? Or, if your mother asks you to buy 1 kilogram of vegetables and you buy 1 gram?

So, are you eager, bursting with anticipation about learning how to convert units?

Read this to find out!

First of all, we must know some basic facts and unit convertions.

Weight

1)1 gram= 0.001 kilogram

Length/Distance

1) 1minimetre= 0.1centimetre
2) 1 centimetre= 0.01metre
3) 1metre= 0.001 kilometres
4) 1 mile = 1609.344 meters
5) 1 knot = 1.852km/h( For boats, ships, other vehicles that travel on large bodies of water.)

Time

1) 1 second= ¹/60 minute

2) 1 minute = ¹/60 hour
3) 24 hours= 1 day
4) 7 days = 1 week

Speed

1) 1 metre/s = 3.6km/h
2) 150 kilometres/ hour= 150 000metres/ 3600s

Weight is pretty straightforward. For example, if something weighs 1045grams, to get its weight in kilograms, we simply take 1045grams X ¹/1000(0.001), which will give us 1.045 kilograms. Similarly, to convert any object's weight from kilograms to grams, we multiply it by 1000. For example, if a metal block weighs 0.567 kilograms, we take 0.567 X 1000, which would give us an answer of 567 grams.

Now you try: 1) 3469 grams= ? (Scroll to the last line for the answer.)
2) 0.892 kilograms=?

Time and length/distance are also quite easy, since we use it all the time and should be familiar with it. For example, if you need to calculate how long 5 minutes is in an hour, take 5 X ¹/60 since 1 minute is one-sixtieth of 1 hour. Do the same for the rest; eg. convert 5 minutes into 300s as 1 min= 60s= 5 min= 5 X 60s= 300s. As for length/distance, still do the same thing. Such as 5 mm= 0.005 metre as 1 mm= 0.1cm=0.01mX ¹/10(0.1)= 1mm= 0.001 metre. Thus, 5 X 1mm= 0.001 m X 5= 0.005m.

Speed is the trickest of all so read carefully.

First -- How do we convert km/h to m/s ?

When we are converting km/h to m/s, we are converting from a higher quantity to a lower one, thus we must multiply.

For example : 85km/h= ____ m/s?

To get this answer, we would first do (85x1000)m / (1hrx60min x60seconds)s = 23.61 m/s

Second, lets go on to convert mph to meters/sec

Lets do an example... What us 55 mph in terms of meters/sec then?

As we know, 55 mph is 55 miles/hour. To convert this to meters/sec, we need to convert the miles on top to meters and the hour on the bottom to seconds.

As we already know what 1 mile= 1609.344 meters and 1 hour =3600 seconds, this isn't at all difficult !

Answer : 55miles 1609.344 meters 1 hour 24.5872 meters
------- ( --------------- ) ( ------------ ) = ----------------
hour 1 mile 3600 seconds second


Just follow this simple and easy step and the answer is OUT!!!


Third, we shall go on to yet another fun practice!

Convert meter/sec to miles/hour

Example - Convert 10 meter/sec to miles/hour

DO NOT FRET -- After so many practices, this should not be a problem at all !

Answer : 10 meters 1 mile 3600 seconds 22.369 miles
--------- ( ---------------- ) ( -------------- ) = ------------
second 1609.344 meters 1 hour hour


Keep practicing and one day you will get it all RIGHT!!!

Maths Jokes:

George W. Bush visits Algeria. As part of his program, he delivers a speech to the Algerian people: "You know, I regret that I have to give this speech in English. I would very much prefer to talk to you in your native tongue. But unfortunately, I was never good at algebra..."

Answers:
1) 3469 grams= (3469 X 0.001) kilograms= 3.469 kilograms
2) 0.892 kilograms=( 0.892 X 1000) grams= 8920 grams

sources: http://physics.webplasma.com/physics03.html