Metric Conversions and Measurement Charts and Information
Ian C. Langtree - Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 2017/12/20 - Updated: 2024/10/21
Publication Type: Charts, Graphs, Tables
Topic: Medical Calculators and Charts - Publications List
Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main
Synopsis: Handy everyday metric measurement conversion charts and tables including area, length, volume, weight and mass. Most countries have either used the metric system for many years, or have adopted the metric system within the past 30 or 40 years.
Introduction
What is the Metric Measurement System?
The metric system is a decimalised system of measurement. Multiples and submultiples are related to the fundamental unit by factors of powers of ten eg. 10, 100, 1000.
Main Item
The names of multiples and submultiples are formed with prefixes. They include deca (ten), hecto (hundred), kilo (thousand), mega (million), and giga (billion), deci (tenth), centi (hundredth), milli (thousandth), micro (millionth), and Nano (billionth).
Metric units are commonly used around the world for personal, commercial and scientific purposes.
What is an Are?
An Are is a unit of area equal to 100 square metres (10 m by 10 m), used for measuring land area. It is mainly used in French, Portuguese, Polish, Dutch and German-speaking countries to measure real estate, elsewhere, the square metre is usually used.
What is a Centiare?
A centiare is a unit of area, equal to 1 square meter. 1 centiare = 0.01 ares = 1 square metre = 1 m2 = 1 m by 1 m.
The are is sometimes used in combination with the centiare, e.g. "10 ares 12 centiares" = 1012 m2.
| Base Units of Metric Measurements |
|---|
| 1000 litres = 1 cubic meter = 1 tonne of water |
| 1 litre = 1 cubic decimeter = 1 kilogram of water |
| 1 millilitre = 1 cubic centimeter = 1 gram of water |
| 1 microlitre = 1 cubic millimeter = 1 milligram of water |
| Metric Units of Area | |
|---|---|
| 100 square millimeter (mm2) | 1 square centimeter (cm2) |
| 100 square centimeter | 1 square decimeter (dm2) |
| 100 square decimeters | 1 square meter (m2) |
| 100 square meters | 1 square dekameter (dam2) = 1 are |
| 100 square dekameters | 1 square hectometer (hm2) = 1 hectare (ha) |
| 100 square hectometers | 1 square kilometer (km2) |
| Metric Units of Mass | |
|---|---|
| 10 milligrams (mg) | 1 centigram (cg) |
| 10 centigrams | 1 decigram (dg) = 100 milligrams |
| 10 decigrams | 1 gram (g) = 1000 milligrams |
| 10 grams | 1 dekagram (dag) |
| 10 dekagrams | 1 hectogram (hg) = 100 grams |
| 10 hectograms | 1 kilogram (kg) = 1000 grams |
| 1000 kilograms | 1 megagram (Mg) or 1 metric ton(t) |
| Metric Units of Length | |
|---|---|
| 10 millimeters (mm) | 1 centimeter (cm) |
| 10 centimeters | 1 decimeter (dm) = 100 millimeters |
| 10 decimeters | 1 meter (m) = 1000 millimeters |
| 10 meters | 1 dekameter (dam) |
| 10 dekameters | 1 hectometer (hm) = 100 meters |
| 10 hectometers | 1 kilometer (km) = 1000 meters |
| Metric Units of Liquid Volume | |
|---|---|
| 10 milliliters (mL) | 1 centiliter (cL) |
| 10 centiliters | 1 deciliter (dL) = 100 milliliters |
| 10 deciliters | 1 liter1 = 1000 milliliters |
| 10 liters | 1 dekaliter (daL) |
| 10 dekaliters | 1 hectoliter (hL) = 100 liters |
| 10 hectoliters | 1 kiloliter (kL) = 1000 liters |
| Metric Units of Volume | |
|---|---|
| 1000 cubic millimeters (mm3) | 1 cubic centimeter (cm3) |
| 1000 cubic centimeters | 1 cubic decimeter (dm3) 1 000 000 cubic millimeters |
| 1000 cubic decimeters | 1 cubic meter (m3) 1 000 000 cubic centimeters 1 000 000 000 cubic millimeters |
Metric (SI) Prefixes
In some fields it is far more convenient to provide for multiples larger than 1,000 and for subdivisions smaller than 1,000th. In the metric system of measurement, designations of multiples and subdivision of any unit may be arrived at by combining with the name of the unit the prefixes deka, hecto, and kilo meaning, respectively, 10, 100, and 1000, and deci, centi, and milli, meaning, respectively, one-tenth, one-hundredth, and one-thousandth. The following decimal multiples, and sub multiples, of SI unit prefixes are generally recognized and in use today. They are written using the SI prefixes listed in the charts below:
| Whole Units | Decimal Units | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thousands | Hundreds | Tens | SI unit* | Tenths | Hundredths | Thousandths |
| 1000 | 100 | 10 | 1 | 0.1 | 0.01 | 0.001 |
| kilo- | hecto- | deka- | meter gram liter |
deci- | centi- | milli |
* SI base or derived units with special names may be used
| Larger Quantities or Whole Units Prefixes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prefix Name | Pronunciation | Symbol | Value | Multiplying Factor | |
| yotta | Yä-tuh | Y | 1024 | Septillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| zetta | ZETT-uh | Z | 1021 | Sextillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| exa | EX-uh | E | 1018 | Quintillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| peta | PET-uh | P | 1015 | Quadrillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 |
| tera | TAIR-uh | T | 1012 | Trillion | 1 000 000 000 000 |
| giga | JIG-uh | G | 109 | Billion | 1 000 000 000 |
| mega | MEG-uh | M | 106 | Million | 1 000 000 |
| kilo | KILL-oh | k | 103 | Thousand | 1 000 |
| hecto | HECK-toe | h | 102 | Hundred | 100 |
| deka | DECK-uh | da | 101 | Ten | 10 |
| 100 | One | 1 | |||
| Smaller Quantities or Sub Unit Prefixes | |||||
| deci | DESS-ih | d | 10-1 | Tenth | 0.1 |
| centi | SENT-ih | c | 10-2 | Hundredth | 0.01 |
| milli | MILL-ih | m | 10-3 | Thousandth | 0.001 |
| micro | MI-crow | μ | 10-6 | Millionth | 0.000 001 |
| nano | NAN-oh | n | 10-9 | Billionth | 0.000 000 001 |
| pico | PEEK-oh | p | 10-12 | Trillionth | 0.000 000 000 001 |
| femto | FEM-toe | f | 10-15 | Quadrillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 001 |
| atto | AT-toe | a | 10-18 | Quintillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| zepto | ZEP-toe | z | 10-21 | Sextillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| yocto | YOCK-toe | y | 10-24 | Septillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
Who Uses the Metric System?
Most countries have either used the metric system for many years, or have adopted the metric system within the past 30 or 40 years. The only countries besides the U.S. that have not officially adopted the metric system are Liberia (Africa) and Burma (Southeast Asia). However the use of the metric system in the U.S. is slowly due to increasing wider acceptance of global standards and global trade which usually use metric measurements.
Why Doesn't America Use the Metric System?
America has always wanted to be different since it gained independence from England - The US declared independence on July 4th 1776 but did not gain independence until September 3, 1783 after the American Revolutionary War or the American War of Independence - One of the first things they changed was producing left hand drive cars and driving on the right side of the road, (as opposed to the R/H drive, L/H side of the road British system), as they were anxious to cast off all remaining links with their British colonial past. This mentality seems to continue today with the reluctance of the US to adopt the far more practical metric system into everyday use.
In fact the reluctance of the US to convert to the metric system resulted in the loss of the $125 million NASA Mars Climate Orbiter because spacecraft engineers failed to convert from Imperial to metric measurements when exchanging data before the craft was launched. A navigation team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) used the metric system in its calculations, while Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, which built the orbiter, provided acceleration data in the English Imperial system of inches, feet and pounds. JPL engineers mistook acceleration readings in English units of pound-seconds for a metric measure of force called newton-seconds.
It is ironic that the US can cooperate in space with the Russians, Japanese, and French yet have trouble communicating across different areas of the United States...
Related Information
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- Metric and Imperial Conversion Formula Tables: Handy conversion tables show you the formulas to convert from metric system measurements to the imperial system and visa versa.
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Author Credentials: Ian was born and grew up in Australia. Since then, he has traveled and lived in numerous locations and currently resides in Montreal, Canada. Ian is the founder, a writer, and editor in chief for Disabled World. Ian believes in the Social Model of Disability, a belief developed by disabled people in the 1970s. The social model changes the focus away from people's impairments and towards removing barriers that disabled people face daily. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and achievements, check out his bio.