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 Physical quantity:
 A physical property of any object that can be measured using numbers is called
physical quantities. Examples of physical quantities are length, height, volume,
temperature and many others.
 Physical quantities are often divided into two categories; base quantities or
fundamental quantities and derived quantities.
 The physical quantity which does not depend on any other physical quantity is called
base quantity or fundamental quantity and its units are called base units or
fundamental units. Examples of base or fundamental quantities are mass, length, time,
etc.
 The physical quantity which is derived from fundamental quantities is called derived
quantity and its units are called derived units. Examples of derived quantities are area,
volume, force, velocity, acceleration etc.
 To describe any physical quantity both a number and a unit of defined size are
required. This number is known as magnitude. A number without a unit is
meaningless. For example,

 In the past, for the same physical quantity, different units of measurement were used
depending on the cultural backgrounds of the users. For examples:
 For mass: kilograms, tonnes, pounds, ounces, grams, etc.
 For length: inches, feet, millimeters, centimeter, metres, etc.
 For time: seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc.
 For temperature: Celsius (or Centigrades), Fahrenheits, kelvins, etc.
 In earlier time scientists of different countries were using different systems of units
for measurement. Three such systems are CGS, FPS and MKS. The base units for
three base quantities length, mass and time are as follows:
Length Mass Time
CGS centimeter gram second
FPS foot pound second
MKS meter kilogram second

 Thus use of different units by scientists of different countries has caused difficulty in
comparison and communication. To overcome this difficulty, the SI (International

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System of Units) has chosen and standardized the units of measurement for all
physical quantities and these chosen units are known as the SI units.

 SI (International System of Units):

 In 1960, an international committee of scientists revised the metric system and
renamed it the International System of Units, which is abbreviated SI.
 The SI has recognized 7 quantities as base quantities and defined their base units.
These 7 base quantities and their base units are listed below in table.

 Base quantities and base units of SI system:

Notation of Symbol of SI
Sr. No. Physical quantity SI unit
physical quantity units
1. Length ℓ metre m
2. Mass m kilogram kg
3. Time t second s
4. Electric current I ampere A
5. Temperature T or θ kelvin K
Luminous
6. IV candela cd
intensity
Amount of
7. n mole mol
substance

 Supplementary quantities and supplementary units of SI system:

Notation of Symbol of SI
Sr. No. Physical quantity SI unit
physical quantity units
1. Plane angle α radian rad
2. Solid angle Ω steradian sr

 Derived quantities and derived units of SI system:

Notation
Symbol
Sr. Physical of
Equation SI unit of SI
No. quantity physical
units
quantity
1. Area A Depends on shape square metre m2
2. Volume V Depends on shape cubic metre m3
3. Distance s Total path length metre m
4. Displacement s Shortest distance metre m
Distance
5. Speed v Speed = metre per second m/s
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
6. Velocity v Velocity = metre per second m/s
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒

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𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛
metre per second
7. Acceleration a Acceleration =
𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 m/s2
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 squared
Mass kilogram per
8. Density ρ Density = 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 kg/m3
metre cubed
Momentum kilogram metre
9. Momentum p kg m/s
= Mass × Velocity per second
kilogram metre
Force = Mass × per second kg m/s2
10. Force F
Acceleration squared =N
= newton
kilogram metre
Weight per second kg m/s2
11. Weight W
= Mass × Acceleration (g) squared =N
= newton
newton per metre
Force N/m2
12. Pressure P Pressure = squared
Area = Pa
= pascal
Work newton metre Nm
13. Work W
= Force × Displacement = joule =J
newton metre Nm
14. Energy E Energy = Work
= joule =J
𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 joule per second J/s
15. Power P Power = 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 = watt =W

 Prefixes:
 Scientists work with both very large and very small numbers.
 Prefixes are applied before units to make measurements much easier. Some examples
of such prefixes are given in below table.
 Any prefix can be used with any units but generally we use some prefix with some
units only.

Factor Prefix Symbol Factor Prefix Symbol

10−1 deci d 101 deca da

10−2 centi c 102 hecto h

10−3 milli m 103 kilo k

10−6 micro μ 106 mega M

10−9 nano η 109 giga G

10−12 pico p 1012 tera T

10−15 femto f 1015 peta P

10−18 atto a 1018 exa E

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 Rules to write SI units and their symbols:

1. The short forms for metric units are called symbols, NOT abbreviations. Metric
symbols never end with a period unless they are the last word in a sentence.
RIGHT: 20 mm, 10 kg
WRONG: 20 mm., 10 kg.
2. Metric symbols should be preceded by digits and a space must separate the digits
from the symbols.
RIGHT: the box was 2 m wide
WRONG: the box was 2m wide
3. Symbols are always written in the singular form.
RIGHT: 500 hL, 43 kg
WRONG: 500 hLs, 43 kgs
BUT: It is correct to pluralize the written out metric unit names: 500 hectoliters, 43
kilograms
4. The compound symbols must be written out with the appropriate mathematical sign
included.

RIGHT: 30 km/h, 12 cm/s

WRONG: 30 kmph, 30 kph (do NOT use a p to symbolize “per”)
BUT: It is ok to write out “kilometers per hour”
5. The meaning of a metric symbol is different depending on if it is lowercase or
capitalized.
e.g. mm is millimeters (1/1000 meters)
Mm is Megameters (1 million meters)

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