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Choose appropriate units of mass

Chooses grams or kilograms to measure and estimate the mass of familiar objects, reasoning that grams suit lighter objects and kilograms suit heavier objects and that the unit should produce a sensible numerical measure. Understands that the same mass is represented by a larger number of grams than kilograms, and distinguishes mass from an object's size or appearance; work is limited to standard metric units and whole-number contexts rather than complex conversions or fractional masses.

Detailed Explanation: Choose appropriate units of mass

Mass tells how heavy an object is.

  • Use grams (g) for lighter objects, such as a pencil, an apple, or a paper clip.
  • Use kilograms (kg) for heavier objects, such as a backpack, a dog, or a bicycle.

Choose the unit that gives a sensible number.

Example: A full school backpack has a mass of 4 □4\ \square.

  1. A backpack is fairly heavy, so kilograms are more suitable than grams.
  2. Test the choices:
    • 44 grams would be far too light for a full backpack.
    • 44 kilograms sounds sensible.
  3. Write the correct unit:
4 kg\boxed{4\text{ kg}}

So, a full school backpack has a mass of about 44 kilograms. Remember, the same mass is shown by a larger number when using grams: 11 kilogram is 1,0001{,}000 grams.

Learn by doing: Choose appropriate units of mass

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    Measurement Reasonable Unit - Mass (metric)

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