When multiplying conversion factors, make sure the only remaining units are the desired units.
About 10 560ft/min
Practice makes perfect
We are given that a skydiver is falling at about 176 feet per second. We want to find how many feet per minute he is falling. This means that we need to change feet per second into feet per minute.
176 ft/s= ft/minTo do so, we will use the fact that 1 minute is equal to 60 seconds. Let's write this relationship as a unit ratio.
60 s/1min
To perform the conversion, we need to multiply the speed in feet per second by the unit ratio or its reciprocal. Remember, we want to arrange these ratios such that every unit we do not want gets canceled out, and only the units that we want will remain.
We found that about 176 feet per second equals about 10 560 feet per minute. This means that the the skydiver is falling at about 10 560 feet per minute.
Extra
Common Conversion Factors
Use the following tool to explore some of the most commonly used conversion factors. Conversions can be made both within or between the metric system and the imperial system, also known as the U.S. Customary System.
Around the world, people use conversion factors on a regular basis. You can read more about some practical applications of conversion factors in our original content.
