The center on your school's basketball team is 6 ft 10 in tall. How tall is the player in millimeters (mm)?

Converting feet to inches is a fundamental part of many unit conversion problems in chemistry and other sciences. It helps you switch between different measurements of length easily. To convert feet to inches, you need to know that there are 12 inches in every foot. This is represented mathematically as:

1 foot = 12 inches

To find the number of inches in a certain number of feet, multiply the number of feet by 12. For example, if you are converting 6 feet to inches:
6 feet * 12 inches/foot = 72 inches.

Understanding this basic conversion allows you to move forward with solving more complex problems, such as the one we are working on here! Once you have your measurement in inches, you can then move on to other conversions, like inches to millimeters.

In chemistry and other sciences, converting units of length from inches to millimeters is crucial for precision. The metric system, which is used worldwide, includes millimeters as a standard unit of length. To convert inches to millimeters, use the conversion factor:

1 inch = 25.4 millimeters.

This means that every inch is equivalent to 25.4 millimeters. To convert, multiply the length in inches by 25.4. For instance, if you have 82 inches, you can convert it as follows:
82 inches * 25.4 mm/inch = 2082.8 millimeters.

This simple multiplication step is highly useful when you need to switch back and forth between imperial and metric measurements.

The metric system is an international decimal-based system of measurement. It is used in almost all fields of science, including chemistry. The metric system uses units like meters, liters, and grams to measure length, volume, and mass respectively. The beauty of this system lies in its simplicity and ease of conversion.

To better understand, here's a simple breakdown of the metric units for length:

• Millimeter (mm): The smallest common unit of length.
• Centimeter (cm): 10 millimeters.
• Meter (m): 100 centimeters or 1000 millimeters.
• Kilometer (km): 1000 meters.

Because the metric system is based on powers of 10, converting between units is straightforward—you simply multiply or divide by 10, 100, 1000, etc. For instance, converting millimeters to meters involves dividing by 1000. Embracing the metric system in your studies will make your scientific measurements and conversions much easier to handle.