The metric system allows the measurement of distances.
To understand what the metric system is, you have to know what the idea of a system of units refers to: it is a group of units of measurement . A unit of measurement, on the other hand, is a quantity of a certain physical magnitude that is defined, standardized and adopted in a conventional way.
With this clear, we can move forward and say that the metric system is a system of units that has the meter as its base unit of measurement . This unit of measurement is a unit of length (the physical quantity that indicates the amount of space that exists between two points: that is, the distance ).
What is the metric system
Let's review all these notions so that it is clear what the metric system is. Units of measurement refer to quantities of physical magnitudes. These units form sets that are known as systems of units. Among the different systems of units, there is the metric one.
The particularity of the metric system, as mentioned above, is that it is based on the unit of measurement known as the meter . This unit, and therefore the entire metric system, is used to name the physical magnitude known as distance.
The meter is defined as the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in a time period of 1/299,792,458 of a second . When the metric system relates units of measurement using multiples and submultiples of 10 , it is called the decimal metric system (considered the oldest unified measurement system).
The meter is the basis of the metric system.
Other units of measurement
The ones that we have exposed are the measurements that are used to carry out the measurement of the length, however, we cannot ignore that there are others that are used to undertake the same thing but with the mass, the capacity, the surface... To To be able to understand it, there is nothing better than seeing some examples:
-To measure mass, we come across the fact that the measurement is the gram and then there are units larger or smaller than it, such as the kilogram (1,000 grams) or the decigram (0.1 gram).
-To proceed to measure capacity, on the other hand, we come across the liter as a "basic" measurement and then from there other units arise such as the hectoliter (100 liters), the deciliter (0.1 liter), the kiloliter (1,000 liters)…
-If you want to measure the surface area, the metric system relies on square meters: m2, which is the fundamental unit. From this, other units are created, such as the square kilometer (km2), which is 1,000,000 m2, or the square decameter (dam2), which corresponds to 100 m2, among others.
-Of course, we must not forget the cubic meter (m3), which is the unit used to measure volume. It must be emphasized that, as in the cases mentioned above, there are also other measures that are greater or lesser than the one mentioned. Thus, there are, for example, the cubic decameter (dam3), which corresponds to 1,000 m3, or the cubic decimeter (dm3), which is equivalent to 0.001 m3.
Universalization of the metric decimal system
The establishment of the decimal metric system as a universal system took place in 1875 and contributed to the development of commercial and scientific exchange, by establishing the same unit of measurement for all countries . It is important to note that until that moment, there existed in each country (and, many times, in each of its regions) a system of units different from the rest; The same name could even represent different values in each place, or its meaning could vary over time.
A clear example of the lack of consistency between the units of measurement that took place before the emergence of the decimal metric system can be seen when observing the measurement of length known as vara , which has an equivalence for its Spanish version (from 0 .8359 meters), and another for its Aragonese version (0.7704 meters).
Despite human attempts to establish universal parameters for measuring various magnitudes, there are still too many units of measurement and exceptions for a person to be able to spontaneously understand the values they find when leaving their country. When someone accustomed to the metric system faces the mile or the feet , for example, it is normal that they do not know the equivalences.
Multiples and submultiples
One of the most evident characteristics of the decimal metric system is that it has a notation system to distinguish between several of its multiples and submultiples, something that arose to put an end to the lack of order that existed among the first measurement systems, which did not use decimal multiples and submultiples, nor did they have consistency in the choice of their names, which generated confusion and complications when using them to perform mathematical calculations.
To construct the name of each of the multiples and submultiples of the decimal metric system, it is enough to prefix a prefix to the word "meter", and thus we obtain the following terms: decameter (10 meters); hectometer (100 meters); kilometer (1,000 meters); myriameter (10,000 meters); decimeter (one tenth of a meter); centimeter (one hundredth of a meter); millimeter (one thousandth of a meter). There are other values that are also distinguished with prefixes, both greater than the myriameter and less than the millimeter, although they emerged much later than these and are not as well known outside the scientific field.