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Conversations with the Earth: Metric System in Science

Understand the importance of the metric system in science through the fundamentals of length, mass, and time. Learn how to convert and use metric units. Explore the significance of scientific notation. Discover the vastness of the universe and ponder questions about stars and planets.

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Conversations with the Earth: Metric System in Science

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  1. Conversations with the EarthTom Burbinetburbine@framingham.edu

  2. Quiz on Thursday • Metric system • Scientific notation

  3. Why do we use the metric system in science?

  4. Remember • A system based on multiples of 10 is much more intuitive for humans • We are born with 10 fingers and toes • The math system that we use is based on 10,

  5. Metric System • Any system of measurement needs three fundamental units • Length - meter • Mass - kilogram • Time - second

  6. 1 kilometer = 1,000 meters • 1 meter = 100 centimeters • 1 centimeter = 10 millimeters • 1 kilogram = 1,000 grams

  7. Things you need to know because we will use the metric system • one kilometer is 5/8 of a mile • one meter is 3.28 feet • one centimeter is 0.39 inches • 1 kg (mass) is equivalent to 2.2 pounds (force) on Earth • We will use the metric system in this class • Does anybody remember the Mars Climate Orbiter?

  8. Mars Climate Orbiter • Software calculated forces for the thrusters in English units (pounds). • People controlling the spacecraft thought the calculated forces were in Newtons (metric). (One English pound of force equals 4.45 Newtons.) • Changes made to the spacecraft's trajectory were actually 4.45 times greater than what the JPL navigation team believed. • The spacecraft missed its intended 140 - 150 km altitude above Mars during orbit insertion, instead entering the Martian atmosphere at about 57 km. • The spacecraft was destroyed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mars_Climate_Orbiter_2.jpg

  9. 1 kilometer = 1,000 meters • 1 meter = 100 centimeters • 1 centimeter = 10 millimeters • 1 kilogram = 1,000 grams • one kilometer is 5/8 of a mile • one meter is 3.28 feet • 1 kg (mass) is equivalent to 2.2 pounds (force) on Earth

  10. Meter • How is the meter defined?

  11. Meter • Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole • International Prototype Meter was defined as the distance between two lines on a standard bar composed of an alloy of ninety percent platinum and ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice.

  12. Meter • Now defined as equal to the distance travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1⁄299,792,458 of a second.

  13. Gram and Kilogram • How are the gram and kilogram defined?

  14. Gram and Kilogram • How are the gram and kilogram defined?

  15. Gram and Kilogram • A gram was first decreed to be equal to “the absolute weight of a volume of water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of the meter, at the temperature of melting ice.” • Now, the International Prototype Kilogram is used as the standard. • It is made of a platinum alloy known as “Pt‑10Ir”, which is 90% platinum and 10% iridium

  16. International Prototype Kilogram • Photo of Danish national kilogram prototype

  17. Second • The solar day was divided into 24 hours, each of which contained 60 minutes of 60 seconds each • So the second was 1⁄86 400 of the mean solar day. • Now 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 cesium-133 atom.

  18. Scientific Notation • 10000 = 104 • 100000000 = 108 • 10000000000 = 1010 • 100000000000000000000 = 1020 • 0.001 = 10-3 • 0.0000001 = 10-7

  19. How do you write numbers? • 31,700,000 = 3.17 x 107 • 2,770,000 = 2.77 x 106 • 0.00056 = 5.6 x 10-4 • 0.0000078 = 7.8 x 10-6

  20. How do you do multiply? • 106 x 108 = 10(6+8) = 1014 • 10-5 x 103 = 10(-5+3) = 10-2 • (3 x 104 ) x (4 x 105) = 12 x 10(4+5) = 12 x 109 = 1.2 x 1010

  21. How do you divide? • 108/106 = 10(8-6) = 102 • 10-6/10-4 = 10(-6-(-4)) = 10-2 • (3 x 108)/(4 x 103) = ¾ x 10(8-3) = 0.75 x 105 = 7.5 x 104

  22. Always use units for your answers

  23. Stars in the Universe • Say there are 100 billion galaxies • Each galaxy has 100 billion stars • So how many stars in the universe

  24. Answer • Number of stars in universe • = (100 x 109) x (100 x 109) = 10000 x 1018 = 1 x 1022 = 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 • This is about the same number of grains of sand in every beach in the world

  25. Questions: • How many of these 1022 stars have planets? • How many of these planets have life?

  26. Any Questions?

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