Physical Quantities & Units

Lecture 1
MF006 General Physics 1
 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES
& UNITS

Base/Derived
Quantities

SI Units

Errors

Significant
Figures

Scalars and
Vectors
 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES

Quantitative versus qualitative

Most observation in physics are quantitative
Descriptive observations (or qualitative) are usually imprecise
Qualitative Observations Quantitative Observations
How do you measure What can be measured with the
artistic beauty? instruments on an aeroplane?
 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES

A physical quantity is one that can be measured and

consists of a magnitude and unit.
Measuring length

70 4.5 m
km/h

SI units are Vehicles

common Not
today Exceeding
1500 kg In
Unladen
Weight
 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES

(II) DERIVED Quantities

Are classified into two types: A derived quantity is a quantity which
can be defined in terms of other
Base quantities
physical quantities.
Derived quantities
Derived quantity is like
(i) Base Quantities the house that was
A base quantity is Base quantity
build up from a collection
a quantity which is like the brick the
cannot be defined of bricks (basic quantity)
in terms of other
basic building block of
physical quantities. a house
 The international system
of units commonly used in
SI UNITS science and engineering is
the Systeme International
dUnites, or SI in short.

The SI system of units

defines the base units for
SI Units International System of Units seven base quantities.

Base Quantities Name of Unit Symbol of Unit

length metre m
mass kilogram kg
time second s
electric current ampere A
temperature kelvin K
amount of substance mole mol
luminous intensity candela cd
SI UNITS
 SI UNITS
Derived Relation with Base and Special
Unit
Quantity Derived Quantities Name
area length width m2
volume length width m3
height
density mass volume kg m-3
speed distance time m s-1
acceleration change in velocity m s-2
time
force mass acceleration kg m s-2 newton
(N)
pressure force area kg m-1 s-2 pascal
(Pa)
work force distance kg m2 s-2 joule (J)

power work time kg m2 s-3 watt (W)

 PREFIXES

Prefixes simplify the writing of very large or very

small quantities

Prefix Abbreviation Power

nano n 109
micro 106
milli m 103
centi c 102
deci d 101
kilo k 103
mega M 106
giga G 109
PREFIXES
 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
Alternative writing method
Using standard form
N 10n where 1 N < 10 and n is an integer

This galaxy is about 2.5 106 The diameter of this

light years from the Earth. atom is about 1 1010
m.
 CONVERSION OF UNITS
Solving Problems
Convert 655 mm to m
1. Looking for:
the distance in meters
2. Given:
distance = 655 millimeters
3. Relationships:
Ex. There are 1000 millimeters in 1 meter
4. Solution:
 CONVERSION OF UNITS

Eg: 1ft = 0.3048 m ; 1 mile = 1609 m

a) Convert 20.0 ft into meters.

b) Convert 60.0 mi/h to m/s.

Solving Problems
Convert 4.5 ft to cm
1. Looking for:
You are asked for the distance in cm
2. Given:
You are given the distance in ft.
3. Relationships:
Ex. There are ? cm in 1 ft? 30.48 cm = 1
ft
4. Solution:
Make a conversion factor from equivalent
 ERRORS

Accurate Measurement
No measurement is perfectly accurate
Some error is inevitable even with high
precision instruments
Two main types of errors
Random errors
Systematic errors
 RANDOM ERRORS

Random errors occur in all measurements.

Arise when observers estimate the last figure of an
instrument reading
Also contributed by background noise or mechanical
vibrations in the laboratory.
Called random errors because they are unpredictable
Minimize such errors by averaging a large number of
readings
Freak results discarded before averaging
 SYSTEMATIC ERRORS

Systematic errors are not random but constant

Cause an experimenter to consistently
underestimate or overestimate a reading
They due to the equipment being used e.g. a
ruler with zero error
may be due to environmental factors e.g.
weather conditions on a particular day
Cannot be reduced by averaging, but they can be
eliminated if the sources of the errors are known
 SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
Since measuring instruments always have a limit
of precision and since statistical errors are often
present, every measurement in physics has a limit
on how many digits in the result are known with
certainty.

The digits that are known with certainty are called

significant figures.

Whenever you work a problem in physics, you

must use the correct number of significant figures
to express the results of both your measurement
and your calculation.
 Significant
Measurement Remarks
Figures

3.1 cm 2

4.36 m/s 3

5.003 mm 4 Both zeros are significant

0.00875 kg 3 Zeros simply locate the decimal

Same quantity as previous

8.75 x 10 kg 3
example
Ambiguous cant tell whether
4500 ft 2,3 or 4 zeros measured or only showing
decimal.
 ACCURACY
Accuracy describes the nearness of a
measurement to the standard or true value,
i.e., a highly accurate measuring device will
provide measurements very close to the
standard, true or known values.

Example: In target shooting a high score

indicates the nearness to the bull's eye and
is a measure of the shooter's accuracy
 PRECISION
Precision is the degree to which several
measurements provide answers very close to
each other. It is an indicator of the scatter in the
data. The lesser the scatter, higher the precision.
ACCURACY vs PRECISION
 ADDITION OR SUBTRACTION

When adding or subtracting measured quantities,

the precision of the answer can only be as great
as the least precise (decimal place) term in the
sum or difference. All digits up to this limit of
precision are significant.
3.76 cm The least precise quantity is
+ 46.855 cm 0.2 so our answer is known
+ 0.2 cm only to the nearest 0.1 cm.

50.815 cm
The correct answer is 50.8 cm.
 MULTIPLYING & DIVIDING
When multiplying or dividing measured quantities, the
number of significant digits in the result can only be as great
as the least number of significant figures in any factor in the
calculation.

Eg: (31.3 cm)(28 cm)(51.85 cm) = 45,441.34 cm 3

But, the significant figures rule allows us to keep only two

digits we are limited by the two significant figures in 28 cm.

Therefore, the answer is stated as: 45,000 cm 3, or 4.5x104

cm3.
 EXAMPLES
How many significant figures are there?
1. 345
2. 2.30
3. 1.0004
4. 2.9 x 103
5. 0.0450

.What are the results of the following calculation?

1. 2.430 + 2.3+16 +345.97 = ?
2. 3.45 x 260. x 0.0365 = ?
3. 3.12 3.45 + 67.354 = ?
4. 345/6.50 x 7.90 = ?
5. 3.10 x 4.520 =?
6. [(9.714 x 105)(2.1482 x 10-9)] / [(4.1212)(3.7792 x 10-5)]=?
7. 564312 264312 =?