1.3 Unit Conversions and the Metric System | General Physics

Chad covers the unit conversions involving the metric system in this lesson including all the major metric prefixes from atto to Exa. It is usually necessary to use SI units in physics calculations, and students must be able to readily convert to SI units for quantities given in anything other than SI units. Chad demonstrates how to properly perform unit conversions, common pitfalls to avoid, and tricky examples involving the units for area and volume. Finally, he demonstrates how that unit conversions for more complex derived units isn't any more difficult than the more basic conversions, but often just involve multiple conversions instead of just one.

00:00 Lesson Introduction
00:51 Metric Prefixes
06:36 Basic Unit Conversions Example
09:27 Unit Conversions Involving Area or Volume
11:32 More Complex Unit Conversions for Velocity and Density

[farismahjoub]

From high school to MCAT studying, you’ve been a huge help. Thank you so much Chad!

[spicytrailmix]

You saved me through gen chem and orgo, and now physics. You deserve an award fr my hero

[BireckiKarol]

Your face feels more familiar for me than my mother’s face, you’ve been helping me for so long now :-)

[ftosh_AL]

11:29 How can I decide which one I gave it 1 and which one I gave it the power of 10?

[sciencenerd]

The word centipede has been around since the early 1600's and the metric units were introduced in the late 1700's, so the name isn't problematic