The advantage of converting within the Metric System is that all the units are related to each other by a factor of ten.  You can use, to convert between units, a metric unit number line. Each movement on this number line presents a power of ten. 

When converting between different units, we need to find how many positions on the line we move. The middle represents the main unit; Meters, Grams, Liters. If the unit chart is true; 1 meter to a centimeter is two steps to the right. Meaning 1 meter is equal to 10 to the power of 2 centimeters, or 100 centimeters. The power is the amount of steps moved; if moving towards to right, the power will be positive; if moving towards the left, the power will be negative.

Example of converting in the SI system

If we want to convert 15 700 cL to ML, we need to find where cL and ML are on the number line.

Since it is 8 steps to the left, this means the difference is 10 to the power of -8; 1 cL = 0.000000008ML

Now that we found the conversion, we can apply it to the number we are converting. You want to multiply the number that you want to convert (15 700 cL) with the difference in units (0.00000001 over 1cL).

Note: you want the cL in the denominator so the units can cancel out.

When cancelled out, you can multiply the numbers to find the answer.

–

I found that this lesson can either be very complicated or very simple. I learned that the key is that you have to write every step down so you don’t confuse yourself and also to remember what unit you are converting to what, so
you don’t mix them around and start from the wrong unit. It is a challenging because of the amount of steps you must remember and follow.