Table of Contents

• Prequiz
• 1: Tall (and small) tales
• 2: Metric conversions: step to the right, step to the left
• 3: 3 Worlds: Milli, Micro, Nano
• 4: Focus on the microworld
• 5: Small stuff in the microworld
• 6: Next stop... the nanoworld
• 7: End of the line... the picoworld
• 8: What to memorize

Metric conversions: step to the right, step to the left

First, the basics. One meter (which is oddly enough just about the same size as a meter stick) can be divided into 1000 parts called millimeters.

So, if I want to convert a measurement in millimeters to one in meters, I can do it by moving the decimal point 3 places to the left:

277 mm -> 0.277 m

Likewise, if I want to convert a measurement in meters to one in millimeters, I can do it by moving the decimal point 3 places to the right:

0.341 m -> 341 mm

If you don't have any decimal places to move to the right, then you need to add zeros:

345 m ->345000 mm

34.5 m ->34500 mm

A lot of people remember the part about moving the decimal point over by 3, but don't remember whether it goes to the left or the right. There's an easy solution for this: make sure your answer makes sense! Millimeters are pretty small. It's going to take MORE millimeters than meters to make the same measurement.

A few big units = Lots of small units

If you convert the length of your finger (70 millimeters) into 70,000 meters, stop and think a moment. 70,000 meters is pretty ridiculous. Don't pull a Paul Bunyan. (And believe me, at least one student does something similar on an exam every semester. Don't let it be you!)

Here's the part they don't do in grade school: if you divide a millimeter into 1000 pieces, you get a micrometer, abbreviated µm, or um (being easier to type on a standard keyboard).

And if you divide a um into 1000 pieces, you get a nanometer, or nm.

So altogether now:

• 1 meter is 1000 millimeters
• 1 millimeter is 1000 micrometers (or microns, or µm, or um)
• 1 micrometer is 1000 nanometers (or nm)
• And the hip bone is connected to the thigh bone.