Unit Conversions

[Diana Sandoval 1K]

Does anyone know of an easy way to remember the conversions?

[Jewelyana3A]

I think that for me I found it really helpful to print out the Constants and Equations sheet that Lavelle posted on his website. You can familiarize yourself with what he is going to provide on every test and what you will want to remember. I'm not sure what specific conversions you are having difficulty remembering, but for me the simple ones are converting milliliters to liters. I was taught using fractions for example you place what you have in the front. 500mL = ? Liters. Then you multiply it by a fraction. The top is what you want to get to, which in this case is Liters. Then the bottom is the ratio of mL. So, this would be 500 mL(1 L/1000mL) = 0.5L. Also, just to remember the conversion numbers there are a few that have hints embedded in their prefixes. mill = 1000. centi = 100. Nano meters = 10^9. I think it just takes some time to sit down and memorize a few that aren't so clear.

[josephperez_2C]

Some unit conversions are given on the equation sheet, such as 1 nm = 10-9 m, so I would just review the ones that aren't on the worksheet.

[I am Sodium Funny]

There are mnemonics you can use for the IS prefix's to remember the order. i.e. Kings Hate Dragons Because Dragons Can’t Make Money = Kilo, Hecto, Deca, Base, Deci, Centi, Milli, Micro). The problem with this is it doesn't differentiate the magnitudes between (i.e. The difference of orders of magnitude between Milli and Centi are not the same as the difference between Milli and Micro).