1-2 Measuring things: The board (1 of 2)

Physical Quantities
Examples: Length Pressure Power
Speed (velocity) Mass Temperature
Acceleration Time Electric current

Base Derived
Quantities Quantities
are are defined in
independent of terms of the
each other base quantities
Examples
Length
Mass Speed =
Time
 1-2 Measuring things: Board 2 of 2

Units : Each physical quantity is

measured in terms of its own
units.
Examples:
Quantity (symbol) Unit (symbol)
Length (L) Meter (m)
Mass (m) Kilogram (kg)

Velocity (V) Meter per second (m/s)

Standards :
Each base quantity is measured by comparison
with a standard.
The base standard corresponds to 1 unit of the
base quantity.

Standards have to be both:

accessible and invariable .
 The board
1-3 The International System of Units (1 of 2)

The SI system is also called : the metric system.

‫ عليكم فقط‬:‫من هذا الجدول‬
The 7 SI base units: ‫المكتوب باألحمر‬

Unit Unit Quantity Quantity

name symbol name Symbol
meter m Length L
Second s Time t
Kilogram kg Mass m
Ampere A Electric I
current
Kelvin K Temperature
Mole mol Amount of N
substance
Candela cd Luminous J
intensity

Example of an SI derived unit:

Unit Unit In terms of the Quantity
name symbol base units name
Watt W kg.(m^2)/(s^3) Power
1-3 The International System of Units The board
(2 of 2 )
Scientific Notation:
560 000 000 m = 5.60 × 108 m
0.000 000 492 s = 4.92 × 10−7 s
‫كل الذي في الجدول‬
Prefixes of SI units: ‫داخل في االختبار‬

Factor Prefix Symbol

109 Giga- G
106 Mega- M
103 Kilo- K
10−2 Centi- C
10−3 Milli- M
10−6 Micro- µ
10−9 Nano- n
10−12 Pico- p

A prefix in an example:

1.27 × 109 watt = 1.27 gigawatts = 1.27 GW

1-4 Changing units Covered in the
introductory
lecture

a conversion factor is a ratio of units that is equal to unity.

Examples:
1 – 5, 1 – 6, 1 – 7 : Length, Time, and Mass :
‫ لن تدخل في االختبار‬،‫ هذه الصفحة خارج المنهج‬The board (1 of 2)
Clocks Inventions (the time measuring devices) through history:

1st (Oldest)

2nd

3rd

‫بديع الزمان الجزري‬

4th
Al-Jazari

5th
(current)
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1 – 5, 1 – 6, 1 – 7 : Length, Time, and Mass : (2 of 2)
Historical definitions of the meter (the standard for Length):

one ten-millionth of the distance between

In 1792

the distance from the two fine lines engraved

Later
North Pole to the near the ends of a
equator. platinum-iridium bar.

‫التعريفين التاريخيين لن يدخلوا في االختبار‬

Nowadays, the standard used for each quantity is as follows:

Length Time Mass

The meter: The Second: The kilogram:
a platinum-iridium
the standard mass kept near
the distance
oscillations Paris
travelled by
of light
light during a
emitted by
precisely
an atomic
specified
(cesium-
time interval.
133) source.
The atomic mass unit:
the mass of a single
carbon-12 atom.
1 u = 1.66 x 10-27 kg

Density The mass per unit volume =