Centimetre facts for kids
A centimetre (or centimeter in the United States) is a small unit of length. Its symbol is cm. It's part of the metric system, also known as the International System of Units (SI). A centimetre is exactly one hundredth of a metre. The word "centi-" means "a hundredth."
Centimetres are great for measuring things that are bigger than millimetres but smaller than metres. For example, a centimetre is about the length of your fingernail!
Contents
What is a Centimetre?
A centimetre is a common way to measure length. It helps us describe how long or tall something is. Think of it as a small step on a measuring tape.
Centimetres and Other Units
Centimetres are connected to other units of length:
- 1 centimetre is the same as 10 millimetres.
- 1 centimetre is also 0.01 of a metre. This means 1 metre has 100 centimetres!
- If you use inches, 1 centimetre is about 0.39 inches. This means 1 inch is about 2.54 centimetres.
Centimetres are also used for measuring volume. One cubic centimetre (which is a cube 1 cm on each side) holds the same amount as 1 millilitre. This is useful for measuring liquids.
How We Use Centimetres
Centimetres are used in many everyday situations:
- Measuring Rain: Sometimes, people measure how much rain has fallen using centimetres in a rain gauge.
- People's Heights: In many countries that use the metric system, people's heights are measured in centimetres. This is especially true for athletes.
- Reading Maps: On maps, centimetres help us understand real-world distances. A small number of centimetres on a map can represent many kilometres in real life.
Centimetre Symbols in Other Languages
The centimetre has special symbols in some languages like Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. These symbols combine the unit and the measurement into one character.
- Centimetre: ㎝ (Unicode code 339D)
- Square centimetre (for area): ㎠ (Unicode code 33A0)
- Cubic centimetre (for volume): ㎤ (Unicode code 33A4)
These special symbols are mostly used with East Asian fonts.
Images for kids
-
A friendly robot.
See also
In Spanish: Centímetro para niños
