The Importance of Units
Think About It: You and your family are traveling to Toronto and Montreal for a vacation. After you cross the border the highway speed limit signs which had said “60”, now say “90”. Can you speed up? Explain why or why not?
Units in Everyday Life Read over the following sentences and fill in the appropriate units. Units may only be used once. carats kcal (Cal) miles per hour cm kilograms milligrams degrees Celsius kilometers pounds degrees Fahrenheit kilowatt-hours stories feet liters tons grams/mL megabars yards inches miles
1. America’s tallest building, Sears Tower in Chicago is 110 ______high.
2. The Empire State Building in New York City is 1250 ______high.
3. The Nile is the world’s longest river. It is 4180 ______long.
4. The Amazon River in South America is 6296 ______long.
5. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -128.6 ______in Vostok, Antartica in 1983.
6. The highest recorded temperature in the United States was in Death Valley, California, when the mercury reached 57 ______.
7. The world record rainfall occurred in Cherrapunji, India , where 1042 ______of rain fell in one year.
8. The largest recorded hailstone to ever fall in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1979. It had a diameter of 44.5 ______!
9. The longest punt in NFL history was by Steve O’Neal of the New York Jets. He kicked the football 98 ______. 10.The largest seen in the world is that of the coc-de-mer coconut tree, which may weigh as much as 40 ______.
11.The world’s largest meteorite is located in Southwest Africa. It weighs 650 ______.
12.The most popular soft drink in the world is Coca Cola. More than 210 million ______were consumed each day in 1990.
13.The largest diamond in the world was mined from South Africa in 1905 and weighs 3106 ______.
14.Earth is the densest of the nine planets in our solar system, with an average density of 5.515 ______.
15.One of the world’s fastest aircraft, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, has clocked a speed of 2,193.67 ______.
16.The largest gold nugget every found had a mass of 100 ______!
17.One large chicken egg contains an average 274 ______cholesterol.
18.A 16 year old make requires an average 2800 ______of energy per day while an average 16 year old female requires only 21000 ______.
19.The United States produces and consumes more electric energy than any other nation. Each year the US produces over 2500 billion ______.
20.The largest pressure ever developed in a laboratory was 1.70 ______, used to solidify hydrogen in 1978.
Questions 1. Why is it essential that all measurements be accompanied by the appropriate units?
2. Individuals who travel to regions of the world with poor sanitation, are warned to filter and boil their water before drinking it to remove deadly water-born pathogens that cause disease such as cholera or typhoid. If you were traveling to a region known, or suspected, to have a polluted water supply, would you drink water that your host said has been heated to 100 degrees for five minutes? Explain your answer.