PHYSICS 71

Chapter 1 Units, Physical Quantities, and Vectors

01 Units and
Physical Quantities
National Institute of Physics
College of Science
University of the Philippines Diliman

The Nature of Physics

MATTER
PRINCIPLES &
THEORIES

PHENOMENA &
EXPERIMENTS
ENERGY

Physics is an experimental science in which physicists

seek patterns that relate the phenomena of nature.
The patterns are called physical theories.
A very well established or widely used theory is called a
physical law or principle.

01 Units and Physical Quantities

Physical Quantity
A physical quantity is any number that is used to describe
a physical phenomenon.
Example:

Time
Length
Mass

60 seconds
1.0 meter
50 kilograms

F =
(physical quantity)

30 N

(magnitude)

01 Units and Physical Quantities

(standard)

Fundamental Units

International system (SI or the metric system)

Repeatability of measurements
Table 1. SI Base Units
Quantity

Name of Unit

Symbol

Length

meter

Mass

kilogram

kg

Time

second

Electric Charge

coloumb

Thermodynamic temperature

kelvin

Amount of substance

mole

mol

Luminous intensity

candela

cd

01 Units and Physical Quantities

Cesium-133
atom

SI Units

An atomic clock uses this phenomenon to tune

microwaves to this exact frequency. It then
counts 1 second for each 9,192,631,770 cycles.

(b) Measuring the meter

0:00 s

Light
source

0:01 s

Light travels exactly

299,792,458 m in 1 s.

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01 Units and Physical Quantities

299,792,458 m> s. Hence the new definition of the meter (abbreviated m) is the
distance that light travels in vacuum in 1 > 299,792,458 second (Fig. 3b). This provides a much more precise standard of length than the one based on a wavelength
of light.

SI Units
Mass

4 The international standard kilogram is

the metal object carefully enclosed within
these nested glass containers.

Unit Prefixes
Once we have defined the fundamental units, it is easy to introduce larger and
smaller units for the same physical quantities. In the metric system these other
units are related to the fundamental units (or, in the case of mass, to the gram) by
1
multiples of 10 or 10
. Thus one kilometer 11 km2 is 1000 meters, and one cen1
1
timeter 11 cm2 is 100
meter. We usually express multiples of 10 or 10
in exponential
1
3
-3
notation: 1000 = 10 , 1000 = 10 , and so on. With this notation, 1 km = 10 3 m
and 1 cm = 10 -2 m.
The names of the additional units are derived by adding a prefix to the name
of the fundamental unit. For example, the prefix kilo-, abbreviated k, always
means a unit larger by a factor of 1000; thus
1 kilometer = 1 km = 10 3 meters = 10 3 m
1 kilogram = 1 kg = 10 3 grams = 10 3 g
1 kilowatt = 1 kW = 10 3 watts = 10 3 W

National Institute of Standards and Technology

(NIST)

The standard of mass, the kilogram (abbreviated kg), is defined to be the mass of
a particular cylinder of platinumiridium alloy kept at the International Bureau
of Weights and Measures at Svres, near Paris (Fig. 4). An atomic standard of
mass would be more fundamental, but at present we cannot measure masses on
an atomic scale with as much accuracy as on a macroscopic scale. The gram
(which is not a fundamental unit) is 0.001 kilogram.

International standard kilogram

Table 1 gives some examples of the use of multiples of 10 and their prefixes with
the units of length, mass, and time. Figure 5 shows how these prefixes are used to
describe both large and small distances.

The British System

Finally, we mention the British system of units. These units are used only in the
United States and a few other countries, and in most of these they are being replaced
and
Physical Quantities
by SI units. British units are now officially defined in terms01
of Units
SI units,
as follows:

SI Units

length of a meter. These measurements are

useful for setting standards because they
give the same results no matter where they
are made.
(a) Measuring the second
Microwave radiation with a frequency of
exactly 9,192,631,770 cycles per second ...

Outermost
electron
Cesium-133
atom

1 second ...for
each
9,192,631,770
causes
the outermost
electron of a cycles
cesium-133 atom to reverse its spin direction.

Cesium-133
atom
01 Units and Physical Quantities

Dimensional Consistency
An equation must be dimensionally consistent. Terms to
be added or equated must always have the same units.
Be sure youre adding apples to apples.
[kg] [m]
Mass Length

Example:

distance = velocity*time
v = [?]
velocity = acceleration*time
a = [?]

01 Units and Physical Quantities

Dimensional Analysis

Dimensional analysis can be used to:

derive an equation
check if the equation is dimensionally correct
know the units or the dimension of a physical quantity

Check/simplify the dimension of the LHS and RHS of the

equation

01 Units and Physical Quantities

Dimensional Analysis

Example: Check whether each of the following equations

is dimensionally correct:
1. s = v t
2. v = m + 2as

1 2
3. s = v t + at
2

where:
s = [length]
v = [length/time]
a = [length/time2]

m = [mass]
t = [time]

01 Units and Physical Quantities

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Dimensional Analysis
1. s = v t
LHS: [length]
RHS: [length/time] [time] = [length]

2. v = m + 2as
LHS: [length/time]
RHS: [mass] + [length/time2] [length]

1 2
3. s = v t + at
2

LHS: [length]
RHS: [length/time] [time] + [length/time2] [time2]
[length]
+
[length]

01 Units and Physical Quantities

11

Conversion of Units

Example:

18 years old ? seconds

365
365141414 days
days 24
24 hours
hours 3600
3600seconds
seconds
18
18years
years

=
= 757382400
757382400 ss
11year
year
11 day
day
11hour
hour
= 568, 036, 800 seconds
= 5.680368 108 seconds

01 Units and Physical Quantities

12

Significant Figures and Scientific Notation

Final answers should be expressed with number of
significant figures of the given quantities.
Example:

1.0 10 [m]
2 s.f.

10, 351 [m]

5 s.f.

1.04 104 [m]

3 s.f.

01 Units and Physical Quantities

13

Uncertainty & Significant Figures

Consider the following:
When measuring the thickness of a cardboard, you write
3 mm, NOT 3.00 mm
A fish/meat vendor does not say, meat is 2.41735 kg

What is the difference between accuracy and precision?

01 Units and Physical Quantities

14

Accuracy vs Precision

http://cdn.antarcticglaciers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013 /11/pre cision_accuracy.png

01 Units and Physical Quantities

15

Accuracies / Uncertainties
Some representations of measurement uncertainty

56.47 0.02 mm
56.47(2) mm
47 10%

01 Units and Physical Quantities

16

Significant Figures
Sometimes, uncertainties are not specified. The
uncertainty is indicated instead by the number of
meaningful digits or significant figures.
2.91 mm 3 significant figures
The last digit is in the hundreths place
Uncertainty is about 0.01 mm
137 km
3 significant figures
Uncertainty is about 1 km

01 Units and Physical Quantities

17

Significant Figures
Example
How many significant figures does each quantity have?
12
12.0
0.012
0.0120
120.
1.2 x 102

01 Units and Physical Quantities

18

Significant Figures in Operations

In this course, we usually give quantities with 3 significant
figures.
However, we have to round, NOT truncate.

525 m / 311 m = 1.688102894

= 1.69

01 Units and Physical Quantities

19

Significant Figures in Operations

Multiplication/Division: Significant figures in the results

should equal the number with the fewest significant
figures.
((0.745)(2.2))/3.885
= 0.42

Addition/Subtraction: The final result is determined by

the number with the largest uncertainty (i.e., with fewest
digits to the right of the decimal point).
27.153 + 138.2 11.74
= 153.6
QUIZ

01 Units and Physical Quantities

20

Quiz. 1/4 sheet of paper

Last Name, First Name

Date

Final Answers

01 Units and Physical Quantities

21

Quiz
1. Determine the unit of the quantity C in the equation
A = B 2C + D

where D is in [m] and B is in [m/s].

Hint: You can only add physical quantities of the same
units

01 Units and Physical Quantities

22

Quiz

Convert 2.0 decades to milliseconds. Use 1 year = 365.25

days.

01 Units and Physical Quantities

23

Quiz
Solution

A = B 2C + D
[?] = ([m/s ])2 [?] + [m]

Deduce the units of A from D

[m] = ([m/s ])2 [?] + [m]

Impose dimensional consistency

([m/s ])2 [?] = [m]

Solve for [?]

[?] = [s 2 /m]

01 Units and Physical Quantities

24

Quiz
Solution
2.

Convert 2.0 decades to milliseconds. Use 1 year =

365.25 days.

6.310'' [ms]

01 Units and Physical Quantities

25

Reading Assignment

Read Chapters 1-2 of Univ Physics

01 Units and Physical Quantities

26

Credits/References
University Physics 13th Ed, H. Young and R. Freedman

Pearson Education 2014

PowerPoint Lectures for University Physics 13th Ed, Wayne Anderson
Pearson Education 2012
Physics 71 Lectures by M Flores, A Lacaba, PJ Blancas, G Pedemonte

01 Units and Physical Quantities

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Objectives
Describe what physical quantities are.
Convert quantities into different units.
Recognize the importance of significant figures.
Express quantities in scientific notation.
Justify the dimensional consistency of a relation.

01 Units and Physical Quantities

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