Units of Measure - Unit Conversion, Dimensional Analysis PDF

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Units of Measure - Unit Conversion, Dimensional Analysis...

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Sig Fig Rules! (Significant Figures Rules and Examples)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZIPNzc5yT0

Units of Measure: Unit Conversion / Dimensional Analysis In the physical sciences, you need to be able to tackle problems that include many different measurements in various units. This is where converting one set of units to another becomes very useful.

The first thing you should remember when performing unit conversions is that you should keep track of your units. This will ensure that your answer is accurate and results in the correct unit of measure. When converting to a desired unit, you have to multiply by a series of conversion factors. A conversion factor simply illustrates the ratio of one unit measure to another. An example conversion factor would be 1 meter over 3.281 feet. You can think of this fraction as meaning “for every 1 meter you have 3.281 feet.”

When converting between units you should also remember the general rule of thumb: which is to take the given unit and multiply it by the desired unit over the given unit. This will cancel the given unit and leave the desired unit. Here’s an example: Given a measurement in meters you are asked to “find an equivalent measurement in centimeters”. Well, you know that a meter is made up of 100 centimeters, so you have to set up a conversion factor that expresses that relationship. where for every centimeter you only have 100th of a meter. Then you multiply the given measurement, 4 meters, by this conversion factor. And if you remember the rule of thumb, this should look familiar, because it actually uses the formula: given * desired/given. At the end, this process cancels out meters and leaves behind the equivalent measurement in centimeters.

Here’s another example: Given that 1 inch corresponds to 2.54 centimeters, convert 8 meters to an equivalent measure in inches. In essence, we have to find how many inches are in 8 meters.

To accomplish the goal of converting 8 meters into inches we have to use 2 conversion factors and multiply them back-to-back. After we cancel the units and multiply the values... we are left with our answer in inches.

This process of converting measurements, otherwise known as dimensional analysis, will be extremely useful as you study the physical sciences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTR91y5x6q4...