The International System of Units Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering SI base units, prefixes, derived units, and quantitative measurement concepts.

Quantitative properties

Properties that can be measured and must always include a unit.

International System of Units (SI Units)

The revised metric system designed for universal use by scientists, consisting of seven base units.

Meter ($\text{m}$)

The SI base unit for length.

Kilogram ($\text{kg}$)

The SI base unit for mass.

Second ($\text{s}$)

The SI base unit for time.

Ampere ($\text{A}$)

The SI base unit for electric current.

Kelvin ($\text{K}$)

The SI base unit for temperature.

Mole ($\text{mol}$)

The SI base unit for amount of substance.

Candela ($\text{cd}$)

The SI base unit for luminous intensity.

SI Prefixes

Prefixes added to base units to describe very large or very small measurements by powers of 10.

Tera- ($\text{T}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^{12}$.

Giga- ($\text{G}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^9$.

Mega- ($\text{M}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^6$.

Kilo- ($\text{k}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^3$ or 1000.

Deci- ($\text{d}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^{-1}$.

Centi- ($\text{c}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^{-2}$ or 1/100.

Milli- ($\text{m}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^{-3}$.

Micro- ($\mu$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^{-6}$.

Nano- ($\text{n}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^{-9}$.

Pico- ($\text{p}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^{-12}$.

Femto- ($\text{f}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^{-15}$.

Atto- ($\text{a}$)

An SI prefix representing a factor of $10^{-18}$.

SI Derived Units

Units formed as products or powers of one or more base units, such as units of area, volume, speed, and acceleration.

Hertz ($\text{Hz}$)

The SI derived unit for frequency, derived as $\text{s}^{-1}$.

Newton ($\text{N}$)

The SI derived unit for force, derived as $\text{kg}\cdot\text{m/s}^2$.