When multiplying conversion factors, make sure the only remaining units are the desired units.
C
Practice makes perfect
We are given that a salt truck drops 39 kilograms of salt per minute. We want to find how many grams of salt the truck drops per second. Therefore, we want to change kilograms per minute into grams per second.
39 kg/1 min=g/1 sec
Let's start by organizing the relationships between the units in a table.
Starting Unit
Converted Unit
Unit Ratio
1 kilogram
1000 grams
1000g/1kg
1 minute
60 seconds
60sec/1min
To perform this conversion, we need to multiply the given value by each 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 got that the salt truck drops 650 grams of salt per second. This means that the correct option is C
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.
