San Carlos University of Guatemala Faculty of Engineering Technical English 1
Special Assignment 1 “Units of Measure used in Guatemala”
Name: Elmer Antonio Pinto Barrios ID: 201114546
1 Index Introduction……………….………………….. 3 Objectives…………………..………………..... 4 Investigation………………….……………….. 5 Conclusion………………..…………………… 9 Bibliography…………………………………… 10
2 Introduction
The present work shown below is about the measurements used in Guatemala, the measurement system used in Guatemala is the metric system, however there are some other measurement units that are used from other measurement systems like the English system, and some form the Spanish system. The investigation also includes the Engineering notations, which are used to express huge numerical values in fewer terms using prefixes; each prefix is assigned to a different power of 10. It is important to be aware of the metric system used in our country given that many equipments and mechanical parts from many machines are made using different measurement systems, so it is indispensable to know the equivalences of the metric system in other measurement systems.
In every part of the world, each region, each country does not necessarily have the same units and measure due to the need for measures measurement scales were made in many regions.
Over time many scales were disappearing as trade routes were demanding equal measures existed between the two points, so we eventually came to establish two systems that are recognized and easily manipulated anywhere in the world (the English system and metric).
Many countries now have some mixture of these two systems by many outside influences that have influenced the standards, such as conquests, trade agreements etc. Such is the case of Guatemala, that the way of life of its inhabitants uses measures of the two systems.
3 Objectives
Identify units of time (day, week, month, year) and compare calendar elements; e.g., weeks are longer than days
Compare and order objects of different lengths, areas, weights and capacities; and use relative terms, such as longer, shorter, bigger, smaller, heavier, lighter, more and less
Recognize and explain the need for fixed units and tools for measuring length and weight; e.g., rulers and balance scales
Estimate and measure lengths using non-standard and standard units; i.e., centimeters, inches and feet
Establish personal or common referents for units of measure to make estimates and comparisons; e.g., the width of a finger is a centimeter, a large bottle of soda pop is 2 liters, a small paper clip weighs about one gram
4 Units of Measure Used In Guatemala
On May 1910 most of Central America adopted a common system of measurements, and on May 1921 Guatemala became officially metric. Therefore, all road distances are in km; Guatemalan specific is that all roads have their distances measured from a spot that is located in the entrance of former presidential palace, now called National palace. The measurement system used in Guatemala is the metric system, but also some traditional units of measurement, that come from Spain, and influence from US English units. For example you buy gas by the gallon, distances on roads are measured in kilometers, and you plant corn by the cuerda.
Some of the Guatemalan units of measurement some are based on old Spanish units; some of them are the vara and cuadra linear measurements; the vara cuadrada, the manzana and the cuerda units of area; and the libra, arroba, quintal and garrafón units of weight and volume.
The most common measurement units of the metric system used in Guatemala are:
Magnitude Measurement Symbol
Lenght Meter m Mass Gram gr Time Second s Temperature Kelvin k Electric current intensity Ampere A Luminous intensity Candela Cd Substance quantity Mol Mol
5 Vara
It’s an old Spanish unit of length. Varas are very well known in many places along the United States, and varas were also used in many parts of Latin America. Measurements vary in size at different times and places; the Spanish unit was set to be 835.905 mm (32.91 in) in 1801. In Argentina, the vara measured about 866 mm (34.1 in), and typical urban lots are 8.66 m (28.41 ft) wide (10 Argentine varas). At some time a value of 33 inches (838.2 mm) was adopted in California.
A measure of 100 varas by 100 varas (Spanish) is almost 7000 square meters, and is known traditionally throughout Latin America as a manzana.
The vara cuadrada or square vara is commonly used in land transactions in Guatemala and 10,000 square varas equal one manzana. One square vara equals 0.6987 square meters (7.521 sq ft), while one manzana equals 6,987 square meters (1.727 acres). A Spanish pound (libra) is 460 grams. Some United States customary units are also used. These include inches, feet, miles, gallons, pounds(note the Spanish pound is also used) and ounces.
Cuadra
It’s the linear space that encompass from the two corners made by the intersection of a street with another street to the two corners made by the next crossing, it is approximately 100 to 150 meters long. The Metric System and Scientific and Engineering Notations
Engineering notation is a version of scientific notation in which the powers of ten must be multiples of three (i.e., they are powers of a thousand, but written as, for example, 106 instead of 10002). A common set of decimal-based prefixes is applied to some units which are too large or too small for practical use. The effect of the prefixes is to multiply or divide the unit by a factor of ten, one hundred or an integer power of one thousand, that is what they are used for, each prefix name has an associated symbol which can be used in combination with the symbols for units of measure, this prefix are:
6 Prefi Symbo 1000m | 10n Decimal Short scale Long scale Sinc x l e yott Y 10008 102 10000000000000000000 septillion quadrillio 1991 a 4 00000 n zett Z 10007 102 10000000000000000000 sextillion trilliard 1991 a 1 00 exa E 10006 1018 1000000000000000000 quintillion trillion 1975 peta P 10005 1015 1000000000000000 quadrillio billiard 1975 n tera T 10004 1012 1000000000000 trillion billion 1960 giga G 10003 109 1000000000 billion milliard 1960 meg M 10002 106 1000000 million 1960 a kilo k 10001 103 1000 thousand 1795 hect h 10002/ 102 100 hundred 1795 o 3 deca da 10001/ 101 10 ten 1795 3 deci d 1000- 10-1 0.1 tenth 1795 1/3 cent c 1000- 10-2 0.01 hundredt 1795 i 2/3 h milli m 1000-1 10-3 0.001 thousandt 1795 h micr μ 1000-2 10-6 0.000001 millionth 1960 o nan n 1000-3 10-9 0.000000001 billionth milliardth 1960 o pico p 1000-4 10- 0.000000000001 trillionth billionth 1960 12 femt f 1000-5 10- 0.000000000000001 quadrillio billiardth 1964 o 15 nth atto a 1000-6 10- 0.000000000000000001 quintillion trillionth 1964 18 th zept z 1000-7 10- 0.000000000000000000 sextilliont trilliardth 1991 o 21 001 h yoct y 1000-8 10- 0.000000000000000000 septilliont quadrillio 1991 o 24 000001 h nth
Application to units of measurement
Unit prefixes for amounts that are much larger or smaller than those actually encountered are seldom used, though they remain valid combinations. In most contexts only a few most common combinations are established as standard.
7 Metric systems in Engineering
The systems used in Engineering are not easy to establish, that is why there are there are a lot of ineffective systems in the engineering field. Most enterprises use the metric system, but since a lot of products from the U.S. and UK factories are made using the English system, most users of these products have to adaptto this type of measurements, and that is why metric conversion is useful.
Table of Metric Conversion Factors
1 centimeter = 10 millimeter
1 decimeter = 10 centimeter
1 meter = 10 decimeter
1 dekameter= 10 meter
1 hectometer= 10 dekameter
1 kilometer = 1000 m = 10 ha
1 Angstrom = 10-10 meter
English & Metric Conversion Factors
1 inch = 25.4 millimeter
1 feet = 12 inches
1 yard = 3 foot
1 rod / perch = 16.5 foot
1 chain = 22 yard
1 furlong = 40 rd = 220 yd
1 mile = 8 furlong
1 mile = 5280 feet
1 hand = 4 inches
1 mil = 0.001 inch
8 Nautical Conversion Factors
1 fathom = 6 feet
1 cable length = 720ft = 120 fathom
1 nautical mile= 1852 meter
1 league = 3 miles
Conclusions
In Guatemala there are different measurement units that are used and not all belong to the same measurement system. In Engineering as in other scientific fields there are enormous numerical quantities, with a lot of decimal numbers, and very little as well, for that reason Engineering notations are used to avoid using this big numbers.
In Guatemala Spanish units are used as well like the vara and the cuadra, also the cuerda which is used in agriculture, the manzana, the garrafón.
9 Bibliography/References
http://www.france-property-and- information.com/metric_conversion_table.htm http://www.metric-conversions.org/ http://www.cename.org/equipo.html http://alien.guatexplorer.com/?p=111
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