Module 1

Units and Physical

Quantities

1
 Physics is based on experimental observations and
quantitative measurements.

Physical Quantity
- A physical property of a phenomenon, body, or substance that
can be quantified by measurement (a quantity that can be
measured by an instrument)

Ex. mass height dimensions speed force

Categorized as:
(a) Fundamental or Derived (b) Scalar or Vector
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 Measurement
Being quantitative in Physics requires measurements
 How tall is Stephen Curry?
 How about his weight?
Height: 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight: 86 kg (190 lb)

Number + Unit 10

 “thickness is 10” has no physical meaning

 Both numbers and units are necessary for any
meaningful physical quantities

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Basic Units of SI (Système
International)
Quantity SI Unit Symbol
Length/Distance meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Electric Current ampere A
Electric Charge coulomb C
Thermodynamic Temperature kelvin K
Luminous Intensity candela cd
Amount of Substance mole mol

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 Physical Quantities
 Other physical quantities are derived from the 7
fundamental quantities and are related to one another:

 Physical Quantities SI Units

 Speed = distance (or length)/time m/s
 Acceleration = velocity (or speed)/time m/s2
 Force = mass*acceleration kg•m/s2 or N
 Work = force*distance kg•m2/s2 or J
 Power = Energy (or work)/time J/s or W
 Area = Length  Width m2
 Volume = Length  Width  Height m3
 Density = Mass / Volume kg/m3

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 Other Unit System
U.S. customary system: foot, slug, second
CGS system: cm, gram, second
SI Unit can be converted to the other unit system using the
Unit-Conversion Factors
1 mile = 1609 m = 1.609 km 1 L = 1 cm3
1 ft = 0.3048 m = 30.48 cm 1 m = 39.37 in. = 3.281 ft
1 in. = 0.0254 m = 2.54 cm 1 lb = 0.465 kg
1 oz = 28.35 g 1 slug = 14.59 kg
1 N = 0.102 kg = 0.2248 lb 1 atm = 1.013 ⨉ 105 Pa
1 day = 24 hours = 1440 minutes = 86,400 seconds
1 atomic mass unit (u) = 1.660 ⨉ 10-27 kg

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Prefixes for SI Units
10x Prefix Symbol Example
x=12 tera T 1 terabyte (TB) = 1 000 000 000 000 byte = 1 ⨉ 1012 byte
9 giga G 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 000 000 000 byte = 1 ⨉ 109 byte
6 mega M 1 megapixel (MP) = 1 000 000 pixel = 1 ⨉ 106 pixel
3 kilo k 1 kilogram (kg) = 1 000 gram = 1 ⨉ 103 gram
2 hecto h
1 deca da
-1 deci d
-2 centi c 1 centimeter (cm) = 0.01 meter = 1 ⨉ 10-2 meter
-3 milli m 1 millivolts (mV) = 0.001 Volts = 1 ⨉ 10-3 Volts
-6 micro µ 1 microampere (µA) = 0.000001 Ampere = 1 ⨉ 10-6 Ampere
-9 nano n 1 nanosecond (ns) = 0.000000001 second = 1 ⨉ 10-9 second
-12 pico p

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 Uncertainty and Accuracy
  Uncertainty is always present
“error” – indicates the difference from the measured value and
the standard/true value

 A maximum error of 10% error is acceptable.

 Accuracy of the measurement – indicates how close is the
measured value to the standard/true value.
Ex: (a) the length of a stick is 58.96 0.02 m
 true value is between 58.94 and 58.98
 can be written as 58.96(2)
(b) 1.6454(21) = 1.6454 0.0021 = [1.6433 – 1.6475]
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 Difference between Precision and
Accuracy
 Accuracy
– how close a measured value to the standard value.
 Precision
– measures how closely two or more measurements
agree with each other. (Repeatability or reproducibility)

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 Significant Figures
 Sometimes, uncertainty is indicated by the number of significant
figures.
Rules in Determining the Number of Significant Figures:
1. All nonzero digits are significant.
Ex. 1894 (4 S.F.) 3.67 (3 S.F.)
3.1416 (5 S.F.)
2. Zeros appearing between nonzero digits are significant.
Ex. 30.9 (3 S.F.) 708009 (6 S.F.)
5.004006 (7 S.F.)
3. Zeros appearing before nonzero digits are NOT significant.
Ex. 0.00876 (3 S.F.) 0.0008 (1 0.00413
S.F.) (3 S.F.)
4. Zeros at the end of a number and to the right of a decimal
point are significant.
Ex. 76.00 (4 S.F.) 6700.00 (677.8005
S.F.) (6 S.F.)
5. Zeros at the end of a number without a decimal point may or
may not be significant. 4500 (2 or 4 S.F.)
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 Operations with Significant
Figures
  Addition/Subtraction
 the number of decimal places in the result should be the same as the least
number of decimal places in any of the numbers being added or subtracted.
Ex. 5.67 m 8.69 ft
8.1 m 1.376
- least number of decimal ft
places
+ 0.9378 m + 3.1416 ft
14.7078 m  14.7 m 13.2076 ft  13.21 ft
 Multiplication/Division
 the number of significant figures in the result is the same as the number
of significant figures in the input number that has the fewest
Ex. 11.63 cm 16.9 m2
5.74 cm - least number of S.F. 5.740 m2
66.7562 cm2  66.8 cm2 2.9442087  2.94

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 Scientific Notation
– convenient and compact way of writing very large or very
small numbers using the powers of ten notation.
  Expressed as:

C.MMMM 10e
where: C – characteristic digit, from 1 to 9
M – mantissa digit. From 0 to 9
e – exponent, the number of times the decimal is moved either
towards left or right.
Rule 1: Positive exponent results when the decimal is moved from
right to left direction (the number is greater than 1)
Ex. 98067.5321 = 9.80675321 104 9.81 104

Rule 2: Negative exponent results when the decimal is moved

from left to right direction (the number is less than 1)
Ex. 0.0000084 = 8.4 10-6
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 Problem 1.1
 The standard kilogram is platinum–iridium cylinder
39.0 mm in height and 39.0 mm in diameter.
 What is the density of the material?

39.0 mm

39.0 mm

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 Problem 1.2
 Find the height of the natural wonders in kilometres,
meters and centimetres?

(a) The longest cave system in the

world is the Mammoth Cave
System in central Kentucky. It
has mapped length of 348 mi.

(b) In the US, the waterfall with the

greatest single drop is Ribbon
Falls, which falls 1 612 ft.

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 Problem 1.3
 The Concorde is the fastest airliner used for
commercial service.
 It cruises at 1450 mi/h (about 2 times the speed of
sound, or Mach 2).
(a) What is the cruise speed of the Concorde in km/h?
(b) What is it in m/s?

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 Problem 1.4
 The traffic light turns green, and the driver of a high-
performance car slams the accelerator to the floor.
 The accelerometer registers 22.0 m/s2.
 Convert this reading to km/min2.

Note: 1 km = 1000 m
1 min = 60 s

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 Problem 1.5
 One cubic meter (1.00 m3) if aluminum has 2.70x103
kg, and 1.00 m3 of iron has a mass of 7.86x103 kg.
 Find the radius of a solid aluminum sphere that will
balance a solid iron of radius 2.00 cm.

raluminum

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 Problem 1.6
 With a wooden ruler you measure the length of a
rectangular piece of sheet metal to be 12 mm.
 You use micrometer calipers to measure the width of
the rectangle and obtain the value 5.98 mm.
 Give your answers to the following questions to correct
number of significant figures.
(a) What is the area of the rectangle?
(b) What is the ratio of the rectangle’s width to its length?
(c) What is the perimeter of
5.98 mm
the rectangle?
12 mm
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 Problem 1.6
(d) What is the difference between the length and width?
(e) What is the ratio of the length to the width?

5.98 mm

12 mm
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Problem 1.7
 A “board foot” is a unit of lumber measure that
corresponds to the volume of a piece of wood 1 ft
square and 1 inch thick.
(a) How many cubic inches are there in a board foot?
(b) How many cubic ft?
(c) How many cubic cm?

1 ft
1 ft

1 in
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 Problem 1.8
   The mass of the earth is 5.98 1024 kg and the radius is
6.38 106 m.
 Compute the density of earth, using scientific
notation and the correct number of significant
figures.

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 Problem
 (1) Determine the correct number of significant figures
a. - 4
b. - 4
c. - 3
d. - 4
e. - 8
f. - 6
g.   - 8

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Seatwork

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