SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

General Physics1
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
Title: Units of Measurements
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General Physics1
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
Units of Measurements
 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help you master
the Units and Measurements. The scope of this module permits it to be used in many
different learning situations. The language used recognizes the diverse vocabulary
level of students. The lessons are arranged to follow the standard sequence of the
course. But the order in which you read them can be changed to correspond with
the textbook you are now using.

The module has one lesson with subtopics, namely:

• Lesson 1 – Units of Measurements
✓ Physical Quantities
✓ Conversion of Units
✓ Scientific Notation

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. differentiate fundamental and derive quantity;
2. differentiate metric and British system of measurement;
3. convert units of measurement;
4. express number in scientific notation; and
5. solve measurement problems involving conversion of units and expression in
scientific notation

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 Lesson

1 Units of Measurement

To infinity and beyond! This is one of the famous lines of the iconic astronaut
Buzz Lightyear that we usually express when someone asked us how much we love
them. But what if that someone does not accept that expression and she/he wants
you to give concrete evidence by asking you to provide specific figures or values?
What instrument will you use? How will you compare that expression to a given
numbers? That will not be a problem if you know measurements. You can express
you answer by giving specific number accompanied by a unit which will be equal to
huge value.

Physicists, like other scientists, make observations and ask basic questions.
For example, how big is an object? How much mass does it have? How far did it
travel? To answer these questions, they make measurements with various
instruments (e.g., meter stick, balance, stopwatch, etc.).

The measurements of physical quantities are expressed in terms of units,

which are standardized values. For example, the length of a race, which is a physical
quantity, can be expressed in meters (for sprinters) or kilometers (for long distance
runners). Without standardized units, it would be extremely difficult for scientists to
express and compare measured values in a meaningful way.

What’s New

Measurement may refer to a process of using a device or tool to find the

dimensions, time, pressure, amount, weight or mass of an object or it is based on a
quantitative physical property of an object which is usually express by using a
number accompanied with a unit. Number express in measurement with no
additional unit will be insignificant. A unit refers to a physical quantity that can be
express as standard or nonstandard.

The nonstandard unit of measurements in the Philippines was used by the

native Filipino (sinauna) that is usually based on the human body. Like for example
the dangkal and dipa for the length, and dakot for weight. The use of this
nonstandard unit produces unreliable measurement because it may vary on different
person’s size. So, to attain higher accuracy and precision in measuring, standardized
systems of measurements such as the English System and the International System

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of Units was introduce. The English or British system comprises units such as pound
(for force), yard (for length), and ounce (for volume).

Meanwhile, the metric system constitutes unit based on the power of 10,
which makes it preferred system to be used in science. In 1960 the metric system
was reorganized by international conference held in France creating the SI (Syst’eme
international d’unite’s) or the International System of Units. These include the seven
metric units which are called fundamental units.

Table 1. SI Base Units

Quantity Name Symbol

Length Meter m
Mass Kilogram kg
Time Second s
Electric current Ampere A
Temperature Kelvin K
Amount of substance Mole mol
Luminous intensity Candela cd

Metric Prefixes
Physical objects or phenomena may vary widely. For example, the size of
objects varies from something very small (like an atom) to something very large (like
a star). Yet the standard metric unit of length is the meter. So, the metric system
includes many prefixes that can be attached to a unit. Each prefix is based on factors
of 10 (10, 100, 1,000, etc., as well as 0.1, 0.01, 0.001, etc.).

Table 2 Metric Prefixes and symbols used to denote the different various factors of 10 in the
metric system
Example Example Example Example
Prefix Symbol Value
Name Symbol Value Description

Distance
Exa E 1018 Exameter Em 1018 m light travels
in a century

30 million
Peta P 1015 Petasecond Ps 1015 s
years

Powerful
Tera T 1012 Terawatt TW 1012 W
laser output

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 Example Example Example Example
Prefix Symbol Value
Name Symbol Value Description

A
Giga G 109 Gigahertz GHz 109 Hz microwave
frequency

High
Mega M 106 Megacurie MCi 106 Ci
radioactivity

About 6/10
Kilo k 103 Kilometer km 103 m
mile

hector h 102 Hectoliter hL 102 L 26 gallons

Teaspoon of
Deka da 101 Dekagram dag 101 g
butter

____ ____ 100 (=1)

Less than
Deci d 10–1 Deciliter dL 10–1 L
half a soda

Fingertip
Centi c 10–2 Centimeter cm 10–2 m
thickness

Flea at its
Milli m 10–3 Millimeter mm 10–3 m
shoulder

Detail in
Micro µ 10–6 Micrometer µm 10–6 m
microscope

Small speck
Nano n 10–9 Nanogram ng 10–9 g
of dust

Small
Pico p 10–12 Picofarad pF 10–12 F capacitor in
radio

Size of a
Femto f 10–15 Femtometer fm 10–15 m
proton

Time light
takes to
Atto a 10–18 Attosecond as 10–18 s
cross an
atom

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 The metric system is convenient because conversions between metric units
can be done simply by moving the decimal place of a number. This is because the
metric prefixes are sequential powers of 10. There are 100 centimeters in a meter,
1000 meters in a kilometer, and so on.

In nonmetric systems, such as U.S. customary units, the relationships are

less simple—there are 12 inches in a foot, 5,280 feet in a mile, 4 quarts in a gallon,
and so on.

Another advantage of the metric system is that the same unit can be used over
extremely large ranges of values simply by switching to the most-appropriate metric
prefix. For example, distances in meters are suitable for building construction, but
kilometers are used to describe road construction.

Therefore, with the metric system, there is no need to invent new units when
measuring very small or very large objects—you just have to move the decimal point
(and use the appropriate prefix).

What is It

Unit Conversion and Dimensional Analysis

Many problems in physics require the conversion of one unit of measurement

to another. This technique of converting between units is called dimensional
analysis. The starting point of dimensional analysis is unit equality. A unit equality
or conversion factor is an equation that shows the equivalent amounts of different
units. Below are some of the common examples.

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 In most of the cases, several conversion factors are needed to complete a unit
conversion. Here are the examples:

1. How many inches are there in 10 meters?

Solution: As you can see from the given table that there is no direct conversion from
inches to meters.
A. Relate inches to meters. You may relate meters to inches by first converting
the metric quantities. Know that 1 inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters and 1
meter is equal to 100 centimeters.
B. From the given quantities, you can list the following conversion factors:

C. Using f as the variable to represent the length of 10 m and the appropriate

conversion factors, the solution for the problem is as follows.

D. There are 393. 70 inches for every 10 meters.

2. The speed of a car as measured by a speedometer is 62 kilometers per hour

(km/h). Convert this unit to centimeter per second (cm/s)
A. Use S to represent speed of a car. For this case the unit is express in ratio
(km/h) so we need to convert both numerator and denominator.

1kilometer = 1000 meters

1 meter = 100 centimeters
1 hour = 3600 seconds

B. For the conversion:

𝑘𝑚 1000𝑚 100𝑐𝑚 1ℎ
S = 62 ( ) ( ) ( )
ℎ 1𝑘𝑚 1𝑚 3600 𝑠

S = 1, 722. 22 cm/s or 1.72x103 cm/s

In converting one unit to another you must analyze if they are referring to the
same quantity. Remember that you cannot convert units that do not correspond to
the same quantity.
You will notice in some instance that a unit do not corresponds to the same
quantity. Like for example, force is express in Newton – N which has the equivalent
value of kg. m/s2, the speed (m/s), and work or energy express in Joule (N.m or

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kg.m2/s2). This is referred to a derived quantities or units! Newton or the unit of force
is derived from multiplying the mass of an object in kg and its acceleration (m/s 2).

Using Scientific Notation with Physical Measurements

In physics, it is very common to work with very large or very small numbers.
For this reason, scientific notation is being used. Scientific notation is a short way
of expressing huge numbers like 1 300 300 or incredibly small numbers like 0.
0000000000000000027. Too big or too small numbers are easily calculated using
scientific notation.

An example of scientific notation is 1.27x107 which is just a different way of

expressing the standard notation of the number 12 700 000.

Standard notation is the normal way of writing numbers. The positive

exponent indicates a large number while the negative exponent indicates a small
number. In general, a number written in scientific notation will be multiplied by 10
raised to an "exponent."

(Figure 1.) 2.345 × 103 and 2.345 × 10−3

By looking at (Figure 1.) showing the exponents 3 and -3 will signify different
value. This will mean that a positive exponent will ask you to multiply by a power of
10. A negative exponent means to divide.

Briefly, the exponent indicates the number of 0's in the power of 10. Therefore,
if a number is written in scientific notation will be express as a standard number; we
can state the following rule:

1. If the exponent is positive, move the decimal point right as many places
as indicated by the exponent.
2. If the exponent is negative, move the decimal point left as many places as
indicated by the exponent.

Examples:

1. Each number is written in scientific notation. What standard notation is it?

a. 5.42 × 103 = 5,420 Move the decimal point three places right.
b. 5.42 × 10−3 = .00542 Move the decimal point three places left.

2. Write each number in scientific notation.

a. 123.4 = 1.234 × 10²

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The scientific notation on the right begins 1.234. To get back to 123.4, we have to
move the point 2 places right. We have to multiply by 10 with exponent positive 2.

Note: A number does not change if we divide it and then multiply the quotient by the
same number, or if we multiply and then divide by the same number.

Example:

1. Express 2.16x109 in standard notation.

In this case the base number will be multiplied by ten in 9 repetitions. After getting
the product, divide the same number by 10 in 9 repetitions, still you will be arriving
at the same base number.

Solution: Base number is 2.16

2.16 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 2 160 000 000

2 160 000 000 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10/ 10 / 10/ 10 / 10/ 10 = 2.16

2. Express 2.71x10-3 in standard notation.

In this case the base will be divided by 10 in 3 repetitions. After getting the
quotient, multiply this number by 10 in 3 repetitions.

Solution: Base number is 2.71

2.71 /10 /10/ 10 = 0.00271

0.00271 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 2.71

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 What’s More

10.2.4
Activity 1 Conversion of Units 9. 401
Convert the given quantities: 8. 25000
7. .093
1. 1500 cm to m
2. 360 mm to m
6. 7400
3. 2100 cm3 to l 5. 0.00009
4. 1.2 GV to V 4. .0072
5. 4.6 ms to s 3. 500
6. 450 K to 0F
2. 0.0000031
1. .0006455
Activity 2 Scientific Notation B.
A. Express the following numbers in scientific notation. 10.4.5 x 10-4
9. 9.02 x 102
1. 98 8. 5.6 x 103
2. 0.0026 7. 6.8 x 10-3
3. 0.0000401 6. 4.58 x 104
4. 643.9 5. 8.16 x 102
5. 816
6. 45800
4. 6.439 x 102
7. 0.0068 3. 4.01 x 10 -5
8. 5600 2. 2.6 x 10-3
9. 902 1. 9.8 x 101
10. 0.0045
A.

B. Transform the following scientific notation to standard notation

Activity 2
6. 350.6 0F

1. 6.455 x 104
5. 4.6 x 10-3 s
2. 3.1 x 10-6 4. 1.2 x 109 V
3. 5.00 x 10-2 3. 2.1 l
4. 7.2 x 103 2. 0.36 m
5. 9 x 105 1. 1.5 m
6. 7.4 x 10-3
7. 9.3 x 102
Activity 1
8. 2.5 x 10-4 What's More
9. 4.01 x 101
10. 2.4 x 100

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 What I Have Learned

1. Physical quantities are unit that describes the size of the quantity.
There are number that gives us the count of times the unit is contained
in the quantity being measured.
2. Physical Quantities are classified as fundamental and derived quantities.
Fundamental Quantities are the simplest form. Derived Quantities are
combination of fundamental Quantities.
3. Systems of measurement are Metric System of System International (SI) and
English System or British System of measurement.
4. Conversion of unit common method used is the factor-label method.
5. Scientific Notation is a convenient way of writing very small or very large
numbers. To write in scientific notation, follow the form N x 10 a, where N is
a number between 1 and 10, but not 10 itself, a is an integer (positive or
negative number)

Worked Examples

Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a
separate sheet of paper.
1. Convert 6 721 millimeters to meters.
a. 6.721 c. 672 100
b. 67.21 d. 6 721 000

2. If 2 mL of liquid weighs 4 g, its density is

a. 0.5 g/mL c. 2 g/mL
b. 1 g/mL d. 4 g/mL

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3. If the density of a substance is 8 g/mL, what volume would 40 g of the
substance occupy?
a. 0.2 mL c. 32 mL
b. 5 mL d. 320 mL

4. Convert 300C to 0F
a. -1.11 c. 271.89
b. 86 d. 359

5. How many cubic centimeters are there in a cubic meter?

a. 0.1 c. 102
b. 1 d. 106

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6. What is the perimeter of a rectangular room that has a length of 5.1 m
and a width that is 2 m less than the length?
a. 14.2 m c. 20.4 m
b. 16.4 m d. 24.4 m

7. How much wood do you need to a form a triangular garden frame if one
side of the frame has a length of 11 ft, and the other two sides are 2 feet
longer than the first side?
a. 33 ft c. 36 ft
b. 35 ft d. 37 ft

8. How many inches is 9’10”?

a. 116” c. 129”
b. 118” d. 228”

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9. How many yards is 9 mi?
a. 12 672 yards c. 15 840 yards
b. 14 500 yards d. 16 040 yards

10. Tessie measures her bathroom tiles to be 10 in by 8 in. What are the
length and width in cm?
a. 20.32 cm by 19.6 cm c. 25.4 cm to 24.5 cm
b. 25.4 cm by 20.32 cm d. 35.4 cm by 12.32 cm

11. 1.5 x 105

a. 0.000015 c. 1 500 000
b. 150 000 d. 11 500 000

12. 27 000 written in scientific notation is

a. 27 x 10-4 c. 2.7 x 103
b. 2.7 x 10-4 d. 2.7 x 104

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 13. 0.000 345 written in scientific notation
a. 3.45 x 10-4 c. 3.45 x 104
b. 3.45 d. 3.45 x 105

14. Which of these values is greatest?

a. 0.0056 c. 5.6 x 10-2
b. 0.056 d. 56 x 10-2

15. 10-4
10-2
a. 10-6 c. 102
b. 10-2 d. 106

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 Assessment

DIRECTION: Read the question carefully and select the best answer from the
given choices.

1. How many centimeters are there in 1.89x104 inches?

A. 7. 44 x 103 cm
B. 7. 44 x 104 cm
C. 4. 80 x 104 cm
D. 4. 80 x 103 cm

2. The wavelength of the green emission line in the spectrum of hydrogen

is approximately 4.86x102 nanometers (nm). Express the length in meter.
A. 4. 86 x 10-7 m
B. 4. 86 x 10-6 m
C. 4. 86 x 107 m
D. 4. 86 x 106 m

3. How many inches are there in 12 meters?

A. 47. 24 inches
B. 472. 44 inches
C. 4724. 4 inches
D. 47 244 inches

4. Mariwad uses cubic meter (m3) as the unit of a volume of water in each
household. Determine how many cubic meters are there in a 12L tank of
water.
A. 12 m3
B. 0. 012 m3
C. 1. 2 m3
D. 0. 12 m3

5. The speed of a car as measured by the speedometer is 85 kilometers per

hour (km/h). Convert this unit to centimeters per second (cm/s)
A. 8 500 cm/s
B. 2 850 cm/s
C. 2 361 cm/s
D. 85 000 cm/s

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6. Cholo weighs 75 kg 16 g and Chloe weighs 17 kg 80 g. How much less is
the weight of Chloe than that of Cholo?
A. 92 kg and 396 g
B. 67 kg and 396 g
C. 47 kg and 936 g
D. 57 kg and 936 g

7. A jar contains 1200 mL of milk. How many liters of milk is in the jar?
A. 0. 12 L
B. 12 L
C. 1. 2 L
D. 120 L

8. There are two containers at the kitchen. One contains milk which has 1.2
x 103 liters and then other one has juice which has 920 liters. Which one is
greater?
A. the container that has the milk
B. the container that has the juice
C. each container has the same value
D. cannot be determined

9. A train is 160 meters long and the platform at the station is 275 meters
long. How far does the train travel in crossing the platform?
A. 275 meters
B. 115 meters
C. 160 meters
D. 435 meters.

10. Kevin bought 19 m 75 cm of cloth. He used 12 m 30 cm from it. How

much cloth is left?
A. 7450 centimeters
B. 74. 5 centimeters
C. 745 centimeters
D. 7.45 centimeters

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