Unit Conversion & The Metric System | How to Pass Chemistry

Learn some helpful tricks on how to remember the metric system, and practice what you just learned to ace your exam! This video helps you understand how to use the metric system as a conversion factor to convert units and helps you stop guessing for good!
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Unit conversion practice problems with step by step answers:
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In depth "how-to-guide" on converting units:
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TIMESTAMPS
0:25 Conversion factor definition
0:40 How to remember the metric system
1:49 How to setup unit conversions
2:47 One conversion factor example
4:00 Two conversion factors example
5:30 Practice problems
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[@melissamaribel]

Typo at 5:42 it should say 6.12 x 10^5 mg

[@Balancedliving4u]

Thank you, I kept trying the problem, and wondering what I was doing wrong! THANK YOU FOR THE VIDEOS:)

[@bmoney3396]

Thank you! Should have searched the comments before spending 30 minutes trying to recalculate hahaha

[@healintouch6]

Haha I was like..wait a minute! Something is wrong 😂, glad I saw this

[@jomanaelarabi6380]

Hey..I got it 612x10^3mg...I'm confused!

[@wendyrios6735]

@@jomanaelarabi6380 You have to move the 2 decimal places to the left in order for 612 to convert into 6.12 (that's bc the integers have to be greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10) and by moving the decimal to the left the exponent increases by 2 bc you moved 2 decimal places to the left! :D hope that helped

[@siphokazifiglan4226]

This removed so much confusion that I had. It’s people like you that make the world a better place. I’m going to pass well because of you. Thank you

[@ethanweimer-kopf6907]

i am still very confused

[@SK98766]

I never skip her ADs, I let them play fully so she can make her coin and keep making these videos!

[@melissamaribel]

You my friend are a blessing 💕

[@sluggersdigital5104]

Was not aware thats how it worked, never skiping again either 🤙🏾

[@chiefzombie9184]

1. King Henry Died By Drinking Chocolate Milk 2. King Henry Died By Doing Crystal Meth ^how I remember the metric system

[@summer-wq4gz]

Sarah OMG SKSKS

[@yosherxo7521]

I think urs is easier to remember, imma go wit urs 😂

[@tc8369]

I learned the first one when I was in elementary.

[@leyIand]

King Henry Died, Don't Cry Mom

[@pawsitivelynursing908]

KING HENRY DIED BY DRINKING CAPTAIN MORGAN

[@monicalynne4306]

I’m really good at math but unit conversion really confused me big time. Came across this video and I’ve never been so happy in my whole life. Thank you so much. You explained it so well and gave such an easy way to remember the meter system. New subbie here! 😁

[@melissamaribel]

Yay!! Welcome to the CHEMmunity 💕So happy unit conversions make more sense 😊

[@89misselle]

this so helpful but i feel a bit confused. how do you get the exponents for certain ones? i think I'm confusing myself even more lol

[@victoriastern8285]

I assume she’s using rules of exponents. Example: when dividing and there’s exponents subtract the exponents, etc.

[@jennalarsen4580]

I can't even tell you how thankful I am for your videos. I was super nervous going into chemistry for pre-nursing but I am feeling a lot better about it now. Thank you so much!

[@elizabethmedina4489]

My Chemistry teacher recommended you to us.. and wow you have a gift!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the world, you are a lifesaver.

[@hannahlevy3485]

I have been through almost half the semester without knowing how to do these problems and just realized I will never be able to figure it out but after watching this video I actually understand it, thank you so much no professor has ever helped me as much as this did!!!!

[@iMaGiNaTiOnWpAsSiOn]

I’m not getting how you’re getting the answer for 612g X 1 mg / 10 ^-3?

[@luvlyjo]

On the question how many meters are in 1738 kilometers my answer that I got was 1.738x10^0 can someone tell me how they got the 6? Please and thank you!

[@kenyauriarte3618]

honestly im so confused on how you got 6.2 and how you got the exponent as 5 i have to show my work for class but i don’t understand what you did to get that outcome

[@Misslayer99]

She said she made a typo it's supposed to be 6.12*10^5 or 612000. It's the same thing, one is just written in scientific notation. If you have a graphing calculator you can change the mode to scientific and it will give you the answer written that way

[@victoriastern8285]

I literally cannot thank you enough I was struggling with this topic but I think I understand alittle better

[@jennifertravis8652]

This was helpful. This plus a good instructor, plus tutoring, plus helpful class mates = a good grade I hope. Thanks for taking time to put videos together for free

[@melissamaribel]

Yeah, you should be good but in case you ever need more practice problems or a better explanation, I create how-to guides that seriously cut your study time in like half. I know how confusing the textbook can be, that's why I created these guides. You can find all my guides here melissamaribel.com and I have a guide specifically for this topic of unit conversion/ dimensional analysis. Here's the link: melissa.help/sigfignotes

[@keepingitrealbrown3153]

I'm confused as to how you know each exponent matches the unit

[@nolanrabe8116]

@Sean Buckner Helped me

[@hannahmarino2631]

Wow your little rule of "put the 10^x number with the base unit and the 1 with the different unit" saved my life. I kept getting them mixed up. I Wish I had seen this before my last exam, but now I know how to ace the next one!

[@Dropyourworries]

I’m a first year teacher and botched explaining small prefixes moving to bigger ones. They’re totally confused but…I’ll hopefully grasp them back in tmrw. Thank you teacher, for teaching me to teach them!🥰

[@camerondoyle7060]

Thank you so much, I learned more in this 6:44 than 4 weeks in school 💯

[@melissamaribel]

Oh wow, now that's a compliment, Thanks! Happy the videos are working and saving you time! 😊

[@jesussaquin6266]

I give you my blessings, this channel has been a life saver. I spent 4 hours and I couldnt understand then all of a sudden I'm a God ad conversion God bless you!

[@cynthiareyes9439]

Love this video so much, I was struggling with what to put in the denominator and numerator and this video changes my life. Thank you so much 💕

[@darlenesandoval9042]

Thank you so much . I keep forgetting and no one has been able to explain it as well as you !

[@Abby-qm4wi]

This helped me so much! Thank you!! ❤❤

[@Wonder503]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU I was so confused and lost, but the bridge is so important and that’s what I was missing! This was so very helpful!

[@derekdeadlifts2986]

Best chemistry tutor ever on youtube!!! Helped me a ton already!

[@BlackDollCollectors]

Thank you so much. You are really a blessing ! I will be using this video to help me complete my home work and lab assignment tonight. You do a wonderful job of very clear and simple directions. For those of us who are ADHD it can be very overwhelming working equations that have so many steps.

[@cheyennesandoval1711]

Melissa Maribel wouldnt the scientific notation be 6.12 × 10 to the fifth power? If not, help please!

[@dinakaunda7820]

Than k you you are a good teacher

[@Yehpppppp]

I have a feeling this video will save my next chem test. Thank you, I’ll keep u update!

[@michaelabrown4486]

In the second problem, when you chose M as a path to get to cm, how did you know to choose meters? My biggest problem has been trying to figure out what comes between one unit to the desired unit.

[@traplabspr5413]

wow I can relate to this, my profesor just assumes that I know this without the slightest background in chem

[@Tanisme777]

Mad Apple same

[@laligarci-yuh6601]

@@traplabspr5413 ISTG

[@leesha5324]

You can’t go from a prefix (nano) to another prefix (centi). And, since the base unit was meters (nanometer and centimeter) she knew to use meter as the bridge. However if she was going from a prefix to a base like nanometers to meters she wouldn’t need the bridge.

[@traplabspr5413]

Diamondz Z 🤯 thank u

[@bringoer]

I got 6.12x10^3 instead of 6.12x10^5. How did you get 10^5?

[@khadijahalimee7307]

I watched like 1000 of videos and none of them really helped me understand the concept but after watching your video i understood everything now. Thank you so much :)

[@nishas7574]

Studying for finals and YOU ARE AN ANGEL. Thank you!!!!!

[@jomanaelarabi6380]

Hey..I got it 612x10^3mg...I'm confused!

[@kellymckay2721]

Me too! I dont understand.

[@fridadavila1561]

I have a question, how do you know when you can't go directly from one to another and need a bridge and know which unit the bridge is ???

[@miaescarment729]

I have the same question:/

[@barbiedoll3101]

I was wondering the same thing but based on my observation, it is because the question is about meters (nanometer and centimeter) so meter (m) is the bridge.

[@fridadavila1561]

Yes, so unless you have the “bridge” set, you must go to it at least once. The bridge is always the one that comes out after the SI prefix. Idk if I make sense :/

[@leesha5324]

You can’t go from a prefix (nano) to another prefix (centi). And, since the base unit was meters (nanometer and centimeter) she knew to use meter as the bridge. However, if she was going from a prefix to a base like nanometers to meters she wouldn’t need the bridge.

[@Axzy1232]

Diamondz Z 👍🏽 awesome thank you!

[@Gail-gs9jd]

I’m so glad you have a video on this. I felt so lost today because everyone knew this except me

[@annaletty28]

literally so helpful this is my 2nd time taking chemistry 101 after a 6 year break and going back to school never easy

[@itzel5308]

I really like your style of teaching (: thank you for this video, I knew how to convert but wanted to study a bit more and this made me more confident for my test

[@crystalraptor195]

Thanks for the help! My Chemistry Honors teacher gave us this video to make a video log on and it helped greatly, and I really appreciate it.

[@melissamaribel]

You're very welcome!

[@crystalraptor195]

😀

[@fatushemarke9243]

Hi, I don't see how you got 6.2*10^5mg for the question, "how many milligrams are in 216g?" My answer is 612*10^3mg= 612000mg.

[@fatushemarke9243]

612*g

[@ifgihippie7147]

i had the same problem but then i switched my calculator to scientific mode and i got the right answer! hope this helps :)

[@muda4044]

@@ifgihippie7147 thank you this helped a lot!

[@Misslayer99]

It's the same answer, one is just in scientific notation. If you have a graphing calculator you can change the mode to "scientific" and it'll give you the answer that way. Also she said she made a typo and it's supposed to be 6.12*10^5(=612000)

[@AI_2thamoon8k]

Thank you! This is gonna do me wonders! I was struggling with my chemistry course but after watching this explanation, I can honestly say I understand conversion factors now🎯🥳🥳

[@jamietripoli3211]

Have a chem test tomorrow and I was so confused thank you so much!!

[@melissamaribel]

You're welcome Jamie, hope your test went well!

[@shihabhasan3888]

I have been looking for such this useful video since days. Finally I got this tutorial... thank you so much,,

[@tynairiwallace7042]

how did you get 10^-6 out of the 1.5L and the 1ML???

[@milagrosgranados1316]

I got all the practice problems correct! Thank you so much! I was having such a difficult time with the long conversion problems. I never knew where to put the 1 and where to put 10^x . Thank you I now have a much better understanding of this topic. 😁

[@samadhijayawardena2679]

This video saved my life. thank you so much😀😀😀😀 The practice problems helped a lot👍👍👍

[@yosherxo7521]

I just started college today and had never taken it before, I got out in a level higher than I should have for chemistry just because of my testing scores, and our first assignment was this, I finished it, it was confusing, but do we really gotta know all this without looking it up 😂 like I’m dead ass serious, someone pls tell me

[@taquitaholt5013]

I want to know this as well

[@gooseunit5931]

Yes

[@callmemenggay676]

On the second problem that we are supposed to answer is confusing me. I got 1.738 and I don’t where the 10^6 is. Can somebody help me?

[@luvlyjo]

I’m on the same bot as you.. but i got 1.738x10^0 I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong... But to answer your question if you are using a TI-30XllS (my calculator) you want to switch the settings by pressing the “2nd” button it should be on the top left and next to it there’s a button called “DRG” after you press the 2nd and the DRG button there’s an option that says “SCI” press that and put enter on your calculator so it saves what you just switched and when you do the problem you put in 1738 x (press the “2nd button) and the button bellow it that says “log” it will automatically input to 10 all you have to put is the 3 and I close the parenthesis and it will give you the answer. It’s a lot of information but hope it helps

[@Lord_Fatquad]

Thanks so much :D, I am currently studying for chemistry final. This helps a lot!

[@Lord_Fatquad]

Thanks :) I am nervous for Chem the most!

[@samham517]

Help Please! Where are you getting these 10 to whatever power, I'm looking on my chart of prefix multipliers and I'm lost as can be, where are you finding them and how are you applying them?

[@catalinajohnson6736]

how do you know what the bridge unit to connect the conversation?

[@stephaniereyes2638]

She's the only one who has gone the extra mile to actually show the process of converting between different units

[@chloegray6964]

any advice on the last problem? I keep getting 3.4 x 10^-3

[@barbiedoll3101]

For 3:34 wouldn't the answer be 1.5x10^-6 mL instead of 1.5x10^6 mL?

[@hockeynight698f6]

I still have zero clue as to where u are getting the exponent

[@nirvanvijaykar1371]

exponents just another way of showing how many decimal places or zeros are between the unit.

[@nirvanvijaykar1371]

like 10^0 is just the regular but for kilo its 10^3 cause its 1000x more or 3 0's

[@oliviahansen5036]

I found them in the unit conversion table you can find online or in your textbook

[@carson6290]

anyone else watching these during finals week . God Bless

[@kyledukes49]

THANK YOUUUUU! WATCHED SO MANY VIDS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THIS!!

[@shihabhasan3888]

It was so amazing to complete all my math. I am happy so much

[@analoera7410]

Hello, can you please advise where did you get 10 by the power of negative 6

[@obg7]

This is very helpful. Thanks and great editing!

[@EricLaMosca]

You explained this better than my professor. Thank you.

[@eliiixir7065]

blesssssss 😭😭 I needed that so much, thank youuu

[@Penelopejad3]

Thank you!

[@katherinematejek6027]

Like where do you get the 10^-6 from? Like I'm so confused >.

[@agustinjaysoncadag]

Same 😭

[@chillwavezneuroscience2547]

YAUS! Literally about to crush my exam because of your amazing ability to break this shit down for us !

[@leslysalinas5928]

For question number one I got 6.12 x 10^-3

[@marchbaby6893]

Błäçk Įvÿ me too🤔

[@leslysalinas5928]

MarchBaby lmao chem sucks

[@marchbaby6893]

Błäçk Įvÿ Doesn’t it though😂

[@ibrahimissaissa6627]

In spite that I am not a student I enjoy your explanation thanks for your efforts

[@melissamaribel]

Thank you

[@SteinsNewDeathScythe]

I loved this video so much, so simple and easy to understand... The editing was charming and just about everything was perfect. I was surprised to find you were a new channel, I hope you get to posting more videos... We struggling high schoolers need you!

[@fridaf6229]

will Meters always be the bridge unit when trying to convert to different lengths that aren't right by each other?

[@melissamaribel]

If everything had the same base unit or meters yes, so if we were going from cm to dm or mm to km. But if you changed the base unit to liters, then the bridge unit would be liters for cL to mL or dL to kL etc.

[@nolanrabe8116]

Question on the answers at 5:42. Why wouldn't the first one just be 612 x 10^3 mg considering we are only moving 3 spots. Why did the base unit number change. Same thing on the second answer where you put 1.738 x 10^6. why wouldn't it just be 1738 x 10^3? Do you always change the base unit to only have one number in front of the decimal?

[@poadstudios6000]

What calculator do you guys recommend

[@haileygreen7321]

bless your soul girl!!😭😭

[@janeespocia6800]

Hi melissa 👋 i dont get the no. 1 exercise you gave how did you do it? I tried to answer it but I got a wrong answer:(

[@tai2264]

And here goes:- i subscribed ❤ amazing work, big thanks , i love you

[@astrolegend]

you can also use the exponent rule to understand the result of her answers

[@iheartfal]

What is the reason why we can't convert cm straight to nm?Why do we need to convert to metres first??

[@enginemode4292]

You deserve all the love in the world

[@somethingisshinning1597]

Thanks mam for clear my doubt ur gorgeous teacher

[@gonzalezpg5555]

I love you for your teaching!!

[@whitewings221]

I'm almost done with the semester and I still cant figure it out I was hoping after you revealed the answer you woould show how you got it

[@MichaelRice-iu6be]

My only struggle is figuring out what goes on top and bottom. like how do i know if i need to multiple or divide by 10^-6

[@sigridbrown9560]

hey thank you for the video how did you get 2.78x10^8nm for the third problem?

[@ItsKwanti]

how do i know what exponent it is if it asks for a metric unit?

[@caliyusuf1]

we use king Henry didn't usually drink chocolate milk khdudcm (killo,hecto,deka,unit,deci,centi,milli) like if that is what you use

[@meganhenry5795]

Hey Melissa! Can you explain how you got 10-6 for the Liters - first problem. I'm getting stuck on that. Thank you for the help!

[@meganhenry5795]

Yes! I was doing my practice problems way too late and way too long and my mind was done. You're amazing! Thank you Melissa. I wish you could tutor me because I'm feeling a little lost in my chemistry class with the math. I can get the conceptual aspects of chemistry, but the math is seriously killing me.

[@meganhenry5795]

Hey Melissa, I'm struggling with a problem. Convert 500. mL to quarts. (1 L = 1.06). I'm not sure how to set this up. I know it should be easy, but its not for me.

[@janniellesantos8374]

How did she get it?

[@melissamaribel]

At 1:48 there is a table that I put up that has micro at the bottom with a 10^-6 all of the 10 to the exponents go with the base unit. The base units are either Liters (L), meters (m) or grams (g). The 1 always goes with the different unit like microliters (uL), milligram (mg), centimeter (cm). In the first example, going from Liters to microliters, this is why we use the 10^-6 L = 1 microliter (uL).

[@azzz1936]

at 3:28 how does it go from 10^-6 to 10^6 after dividing?

[@alisontaylor6853]

let me just tell u that u maam have offically un-confused me ur the best

[@joserosario611]

How do you remember the bridge conversations?

[@deannalasater9557]

Thank you Miss Melissa!

[@isamarcandelario9874]

How do you know you need more than one step (bridge) ?

[@MichelleyB.]

I’m slowly making progress at understanding this. I have my first chem test next week but still have a hard time understanding how to do the math for the exponents. Also,why/when does the decimal point move in the final answer ? For example in the first practice question. I got 1738 x 10^3 :(

[@crystalw3414]

But how are we supposed to know if it needs a bridge? Like for example the first one you just went to uL but the second one you went to meters first. Like how did you know to do that?

[@crystalw3414]

Do you know of another vid that can explain it in simpler? I dont understand this at all

[@yousefabuassi08]

Thank you so much, this really helped

[@cecyzero5239]

For the 1.738x10^6m answer, can we round up to 1.74x10^6m?

[@ayanna8245]

Idk if you’ll answer but I’m confused on you put 10-2 at the bottom and how the answer has a -7. Wouldn’t it be positive?😅

[@valeriewinter6204]

Hi. At the bridging, why did you choose to use meters instead of micrometers?

[@amytopchik2187]

I am confused on how to determine the scientific notation to use. for instance, in the problem converting 1738 km to m, I got 1.738. How do you know that it is 1.738 X 10^6 ?

[@cristineramirez8988]

Why do you move it 6 places? How do you know how many places to move?

[@ruthleonard2021]

To go from km to m it is 3 places but in the other direction. Meters are smaller than kilometers so you need more of them for the same distance.

[@brittniep9219]

To OP: You are not doing it correctly. 1738 x 10^3 = 1738000, but scientific notation = 1.738 x 10^6 because I started at 0 and went 6 #s to the left to get a 1.738, It is ALL about sig figs :)

[@gilllycat]

britt pimental I don’t want to sound stupid but why would we movie it 6 places? How do we know how many places to move the decimal?

[@JonathanHernandez-fi4fg]

1 year later and no reply. she never even showed how to get the exponent and how it goes from negative to positive. Im going to fail now

[@annejoleneiran4890]

How do you know if you are multiplying the conversion factor or dividing?

[@ramachandrakiranaddala3337]

Many thanks for

[@gcastaldo7104]

i don't know where to put the 10 to the exponent i use the right units in the opposite places to cancel out but i always put the wrong 10 to the power in the opposite spot

[@florencequintana3092]

Thank you for teaching us the tricks!

[@melissamaribel]

You're welcome! 💕

[@johnhunter7073]

Because of you I will pass Chemistry.

[@rosalia5985]

Hi Melissa, Im struggling on how you got 1.5l to 1.5mlx10^6 how do you covert that I'm looking at the metric system and I'm so lost

[@melissamaribel]

Just double checking that you know mL stands for mililter and uL is microliter. At 3:17 this is the typical setup we will see, the different unit or desired unit is uL (microliter). And remembering the trick at 2:00 where the base unit which in this case is L (liters) will have the 10 to some exponent and the different unit which in this case is uL will have the 1. So looking at the metric system at 1:35 towards the bottom you will see micro which is 10^-6 , all of those 10^# are for the base units of either L,g or m. So our set up for 1.5L to uL will be 1.5L x (1 uL/10^-6 L) Make sense?

[@stephanielopez819]

@@melissamaribel I got the same problem in my homework and my answer came out to 1500 uL -> 1.5 ×10^3uL

[@dikkiedik53]

Do like it's money... thats a metric decimal system you are using every day. 1$ = 100ct = 10 dimes etc. 1m = 100 cm = 10 dm = 1000 mm. If you have 3452 cent, how many $ is that? You don't need paper for that. The metric system works the same. 0.001 L = 1 ml = 1000 μl just slide the decimal point along the line. I would start with all the 0's written out for understanding, later on switch to ^ notation. It's NOT a conversion, it's the name that changes.