General Physics1

Physical Quantities
All physical quantities in the International System of Units (SI) are expressed in terms of
combinations of seven fundamental physical units, which are units for: length, mass, time,
electric current, temperature, amount of a substance, and luminous intensity.
SI Units: Fundamental and Derived Units
There are two major systems of units used in the wor d: units acronym for the rench e yste
me nternationa d’ nite s, also known as the metric system), and English units (also known as
the imperial system). English units were historically used in nations once ruled by the British
Empire. Today, the United States is the only country that still uses English units extensively.
Virtually every other country in the world now uses the metric system, which is the standard
system agreed upon by scientists and mathematicians.
Some physical quantities are more fundamental than others. In physics, there are seven fundamental physical
quantities that are measured in base or physical fundamental units: length, mass, time, electric current temperature,
amount of substance, and luminous intensity. Units for other physical quantities (such as force, speed, and electric
charge) described by mathematically combining these seven base units. In this course, we will mainly use five of
these: length, mass, time, electric current and temperature. The units in which they are measured are the meter,
kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela. All other units are made by mathematically combining the
fundamental units. These are called derived units

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.).
Unit Conversion and Dimensional Analysis
A conversion factor relating meters to kilometers. A conversion factor is a ratio
expressing how many of one unit are equal to another unit. A conversion factor is simply a
fraction which equals 1. You can multiply any number by 1 and get the same value. When you
multiply a number by a conversion factor, you are simply multiplying it by one. For example,
the following are conversion factors:
1 foot/12 inches = 1 to convert inches to feet, 1 meter/100 centimeters
= 1 to convert centimeters to meters,
1 minute/60 seconds = 1 to convert seconds to minutes
In this case, we know that there are 1,000 meters in 1 kilometer.
Now we can set up our unit conversion. We will write the units that we have and then multiply
them by the conversion factor (1 km/1,000m) = 1, so we are simply multiplying 80m by 1:
Using Scientific Notation with Physical Measurements
Scientific notation is a way of writing numbers that are too large or small to be
conveniently written as a decimal. For example, consider the number 840,000,000,000,000.
t’s a rather large number to write out. The scientific notation for this number is 8.40 × 1014.
Scientific notation follows this general format
x × 10y
In this format x is the value of the measurement with all placeholder zeros removed. In the
example above, x is 8.4. The x is multiplied by a factor, 10y, which indicates the number of
placeholder zeros in the measurement. Placeholder zeros are those at the end of a number
that is 10 or greater, and at the beginning of a decimal number that is less than 1. In the
example above, the factor is 1014. This tells you that you should move the decimal point 14
positions to the right, filling in placeholder zeros as you go. In this case, moving the decimal
point 14 places creates only 13 placeholder zeros, indicating that the actual measurement
value is 840,000,000,000,000.
Numbers that are fractions can be indicated by scientific notation as well. Consider the
number 0.0000045. Its scientific notation is 4.5 × 10–6. Its scientific notation has the same
format
x × 10y

Here, x is 4.5. However, the value of y in the 10y factor is negative, which indicates that the measurement is a
fraction of 1. Therefore, we move the decimal place to the left, for a negative y. In our example of 4.5 × 10–6, the
decimal point would be moved to the left six times to yield the original number, which would be 0.0000045.
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)

Units of Measurement

Accuracy
It is how close a measurement is to the correct value for that measurement. For example, let
us say that you are measuring the length of a standard piece of bond paper. The packaging in
which you purchased the paper states that it is 11 inches long, and suppose this stated value
is correct. You measure the length of the paper three times and obtain the following
measurements: 11.1 inches, 11.2 inches, and 10.9 inches. These measurements are quite
accurate because they are very close to the correct value of 11.0 inches. In contrast, if you
had obtained a measurement of 12 inches, your measurement would not be very accurate.
This is why measuring instruments are calibrated based on a known measurement. If the
instrument consistently returns the correct value of the known measurement, it is safe for use
in finding unknown values.
Precision
It states how well repeated measurements of something generate the same or similar results.
Therefore, the precision of measurements refers to how close together the measurements are
when you measure the same thing several times. One way to analyze the precision of
measurements would be to determine the range, or difference between the lowest and the
highest measured values. In the case of the printer paper measurements, the lowest value
was 10.9 inches and the highest value was 11.2 inches. Thus, the measured values deviated
from each other by, at most, 0.3 inches. These measurements were reasonably precise
because they varied by only a fraction of an inch. However, if the measured values had been
10.9 inches, 11.1 inches, and 11.9 inches, then the measurements would not be very precise
because there is a lot of variation from one measurement to another.
The measurements in the paper example are both accurate and precise, but in some cases, measurements are
accurate but not precise, or they are precise but not accurate. Let us consider a GPS system that is attempting to
locate the position of a restaurant in a city. Think of the restaurant location as existing at the center of a bull’s-eye
target. Then think of each GPS attempt to locate the restaurant as a black dot on the bull’s eye.

What I Have Learned

1. Accuracy refers to the closeness of a measured value to a standard value or known value.
2. Precision refers to the closeness of two or more measurements to each other.

Random errors
It usually results from the experimenter’s inability to take the same measurement in exactly
the same way to get exactly the same number.
Systematic errors
There are reproducible inaccuracies that are consistently in the same direction. Systematic errors are often due to a
problem which persists throughout the entire experiment. Note that systematic and random errors refer to
problems associated with making measurements. Mistakes made in the calculations or in reading the instrument are
not considered in error analysis. It is assumed that the experimenters are careful and competent!

Definition of Random Error

The uncertain disturbances occurring in the experiment is known as the random errors. Such
types of errors remain in the experiment even after the removal of the systematic error. The
magnitude of error varies from one reading to another. The random errors are inconsistent
and occur in both the directions.
The presence of random errors is determined only when the different readings are obtained
for the measurement of the same quantity under the same condition.
Definition of Systematic Error
The constant error occurs in the experiment because of the imperfection of the mechanical
structure of the apparatus is known as the systematic error. The systematic errors arise
because of the incorrect calibration of the device.
The error is mainly categorized into three types.
● Instrumental Error

● Environmental Error

● Observational Error
Instrumental Error – The instrumental error occurs because of three reasons.
1. Misuse of the apparatus.
2. Imperfection in the mechanical structure of the apparatus.
3. The error occurs because of the loading effect.

What I Have Learned

1. The random error happens because any disturbances occur in the surroundings like the
variation in temperature, pressure or because of the observer who takes the wrong reading.
2. The systematic error arises because of the mechanical structure of the apparatus. The complete elimination of
both the errors are impossible.