Chemistry / Unit 1 Chem 0098 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Converting Between Metric Prefixes
The idea
Converting a measurement between metric prefixes means multiplying or dividing by the power of ten each prefix represents, without changing the underlying base-unit quantity.
In practice
To convert 2,500 meters to kilometers, recognize that kilo means a factor of one thousand, then divide: 2,500 m ÷ 1,000 = 2.5 km. Going the other direction, converting 3 milliliters to microliters means multiplying by one thousand, since milli is one thousandth and micro is one millionth of the base unit: 3 mL × 1,000 = 3,000 µL.
Where people slip
The direction of the conversion trips up more students than the arithmetic — converting to a larger unit (like kilo-) always shrinks the number, and converting to a smaller unit (like milli- or micro-) always grows it, so a result moving the wrong direction signals a flipped conversion.
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