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Choose Your Units

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star
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Some units are particularly well suited to a given measurement because they turn out to give a small, whole number of units. Understanding this concept gives you a feel for the order of magnitude of the quantities.

What units would you measure these quantities in to make an approximation which was a reasonably small whole number?

  • The volume of a bacterium
  • The mass of an oak tree
  • The area of a leaf
  • The half-life of Uranium-235
  • The area of a football pitch
  • The average lifespan of a human
  • The volume of a bath tub
Can you reverse the process? For the following units, what physical phenomena might naturally be measured to be around 1 unit?
  • Millimetre
  • Newton
  • Angstrom
  • Joule
  • Volt
  • Microgram
  • Micrometre
  • Hertz
  • Parsec
Send feedback on this problem

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Bigger or Smaller?

When you change the units, do the numbers get bigger or smaller?

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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