Name: ______Section: ______Date: _____/_____/_____

IP 670

Metric Measurement Activity

In this activity you will be asked to make metric measurements as well as to convert from one metric unit to another.

Part A: Measuring Yourself

1)How many centimeters equal one meter? 1 m = ______cm

How many meters equal one kilometer?1 km = ______m

2)Ask a partner to use a meter stick to measure how tall you are in both centimeters (round to the nearest whole number) and meters (to the nearest 0.01of a meter).

Height = ______cm

Height = ______m

3)Ask a partner to use a meter stick to measure your arm span in both centimeters (round to the nearest whole number) and meters (to the nearest 0.01of a meter).

Arm Span = ______cm

Arm Span = ______m

4)Leonardo da Vinci claimed that a person’s arm span equals the person’s height. How close did your arm span compare with your height? (Report whether your height or arm span is larger and calculate the difference between the measurements). PLEASE ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES.

5)Make a table of students, arm spans, and heights. Report measurements to the nearest 0.01 meter.

Table of Height and Arm Span

Name / Height (m) / Arm Span (m)

6)What is the average (mean) arm span of students in the class? SHOW YOUR WORK.

7)If all students held hands and formed a chain, how long would the chain be? Round your answer to the nearest meter. (SHOW YOUR WORK USING THE EQUATION BELOW.)

8)What is an object that has a length approximately the same as this human chain?

9)What is the average height of the students in the class? SHOW YOUR WORK.

10)If all students stood on top of each other’s heads, forming a tall pillar, how high would the class reach? Round your answer to the nearest meter. (SHOW YOUR WORK USING THE EQUATION BELOW)

11)What is an object approximately as tall as this human pillar?

Part B. Compare the size of centimeters, meters, and kilometers

12) Which measurement is the largest? Circle your answer for each pair.

(a) 2 m or 2 cm / (c) 145 m or 145 km
(b) 50 m or 1 km / (d) 3.4 cm or 2 m

13) Circle the BEST metric unit for each.

(a) The height of a flagpole / cm / m / km
(b) The length of a strand of spaghetti / cm / m / km
(c) The distance from Newton to Framingham / cm / m / km

14)Which of the following measurements are good estimates?

(a) The height of a chicken / 4 cm / 40 cm / 400 cm
(b) The length of a cow / 2 m / 20 m / 200 m
(c) The length of the school / 30 m / 300 m / 3 km

Part C: Measuring Common Items and Converting Units.

REMEMBER:

m  cm
MULTIPLY by 100 / cm  m
DIVIDE by 100

15) Using a ruler, measure the objects around the room. Make your measurements in whatever unit seems convenient and then convert to the other units. Report meters to the nearest 0.01 of a meter and centimeters to the nearest whole number.

Height of a pint of milk / = ______m / = ______cm
Length of a loaf of bread / = ______m / = ______cm
Height of a soda can / = ______m / = ______cm
Length of a pair of jeans / = ______m / = ______cm
Length of a hot dog / = ______m / = ______cm
Height of a hamburger / = ______m / = ______cm

16)If you were to stack two bottles of milk on top of each other, how high would the stack measure? SHOW YOUR WORK

Height of two stacked bottles of milk / = ______m / = ______cm

17)The typical American drinks 13,056 pints of milk during a lifetime. If you were to stack these bottles of milk on top of each other, how high would the stack measure? SHOW YOUR WORK.

______cm / ______m / ______km

18)If you were to line up two loaves of bread end to end, how long would the line measure? SHOW YOUR WORK

Length of two stacked loaves of bread / = ______m / = ______cm

19)The typical American eats 4376 loaves of bread in a lifetime. If you were to line this many loaves of bread end to end, how long would the line measure? SHOW YOUR WORK.

______cm / ______m / ______km

20)The typical American drinks 43,371 cans of soda. If you were to stack a lifetime supply of soda cans on top of one another, how high would the stack measure? SHOW YOUR WORK.

______cm / ______m / ______km

21) The typical American man has 7 pairs of jeans in his closet. If you were to line thesejeans up end to end, how far would the line measure? SHOW YOUR WORK.

______cm / ______m / ______km

Checking for Understanding:

22) The typical American eats 5442 hot dogs in a lifetime. If you were to line these hot dog buns end to end, how long would the line they measure? (Follow the same procedures as in previous problems and SHOW YOUR WORK.)

23) The average American eats 12,129 hamburgers in a lifetime. If you were to stack these hamburgers on top to each other, how high would the stack measure? (Follow the same procedures as in previous problems and SHOW YOUR WORK.)

24) Write or draw where the items in the table would fit on the picture below.

lifetime supply of milk / 1 mm
lifetime supply of soda cans / 1 cm
lifetime supply of hamburgers / 1 m
1 km

25) Write or draw where the items in the table would fit on the picture below.

lifetime supply of bread / 1 mm
Jeans in a man’s closet / 1 cm
lifetime supply of hot dogs / 1 m
1 km

Note: The distance from NNHS to the Newton City Hall is approximately 1 km.