Answer to Question #73126 in General Chemistry for Julie

Question

I’m having problems with conversions. During my lab I had to measure a rectangular block in mm. Width=36.2 mm Height=20.2 mm Depth=48.9 mm. I had to calculate the cubic volume so I multiplied the three measurements and got the total of 35,757.636 mm^3 or 3.58x10^4 mm^3. I have to convert that to cm. Now I’m really confused because when I convert my mm measurements to cm (3.62, 2.02, 4.89) I get 35.757636 cm^3 but if I just convert the cubic volume from mm to cm my number is way off. When I do the conversion I get 3575.7636 cm^3. Where am I going wrong?

Answer 1

The correct answer is 35.757636 cm ^ 3. When you translate from cubic millimeters to cubic centimeters, then you do this at the rate of 1 cubic centimeter = 10 cubic millimeters. This only works for ordinary millimeters and centimeters. For cubic ones one should use 1 cubic centimeter = 1000 cubic millimeters.