Welcome to your first lecture in Physics 71. Physics 71 is a classical mechanics course.

This means that you will be dealing with the motion of objects, and the forces that
influence such motion. All quantities in physics, or in any field of natural science, would
not make sense without any regard to what we call as a “measurement.”

In this lecture, you will encounter concepts related to measuring physical quantities that
help us quantify several physical phenomena.

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Physicists observe the phenomena of nature and try to find patterns that relate
these phenomena. These patterns are called physical theories or, when they are
very well established and widely used, physical laws or principles.

One indication of a good scientific theory is its falsifiability (refutability). The scientific
mind would first look for ways to refute any scientific hypothesis. One longstanding
theory in physics is Einstein’s general relativity. Over the years, his theory has been
rivalled by alternate theories that try to fill in gaps in its capability to describe several
phenomena in different scales. However, experimental observations, like the recent
detection of gravitational waves, have supported the theory’s description of gravity. It’s
a rich and fast-evolving field, which is the reason why it’s one of the best scientific
theories, to date.

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Experiments require measurements, and we generally use numbers to describe
the results of measurements. Any number that is used to describe a physical
phenomenon quantitatively is called a physical quantity.

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When we use a number to describe a physical quantity, we must always specify
the unit that we are using; to describe a distance as simply “4.53” wouldn’t mean
anything. The unit specify what particular quantity was measured, and to what
standard it is compared to.

The SI base units were obtained through other observed phenomena. As an

example, the SI unit for time which is the “second” was defined by taking the
cesium frequency (which is the hyperfine transition frequency of Cs-133 atom).
Another example would be the SI unit for length which is the “meter.” It was
defined by using the speed of light in vacuum (𝑐 = 2.99 × 108 𝑚 𝑠 −1 ) as
reference.

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One important point in physical calculations is the concept of “dimensional
consistency.” In operations involving physical quantities, one should be wary about the
quantities that you wish to work with. As a non-physical example, it would not make
sense for you to take the average of your grades in the 4.0 scale (0.0 lowest, 4.0
highest), and your grades in the 5.0 scale (5.0 lowest, 1.0 highest), since they represent
different grading scales.

It is the same thing with physical quantities. You cannot perform operations on two
quantities with different units/dimensions, without adjusting or comparing them to the
same reference.

Also, in equating two quantities, one should take note that the best sanity check after
completely solving the problem, would be a comparison of its units.

In the first example, one should expect that the units for velocity should be a [m]/[s]
since
[𝑚]=[𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦][𝑠]
[𝑚]/[𝑠] =[𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦]
In the second example, one should expect that the units for acceleration should be a
[m]/[s]2 since
[𝑚]/[𝑠] =[𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛][𝑠]
[𝑚]/[𝑠]2 =[𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛]

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There are many ways in which dimensional analysis could be useful. We have already
demonstrated one of them previously. If you were asked for a timescale that describes
the motion of a uniformly accelerated object (constant acceleration, a), you would first
refer to the unit for acceleration.

𝑚
If acceleration is described as a ,you would think that roughly
𝑠2
𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑥
𝑎= ~ 𝑡2
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 2
From this, we can relate the acceleration of an object to its respective timescale as,
𝑥
𝑡~ 𝑎
This relationship tells you that changes in motion for an object with large acceleration 𝑎,
happen in very short timescales (which actually makes sense, since the acceleration of
an object refers to the change in its velocity). This is just one of the situations in which
dimensional analysis could be very useful.

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Here is a good example which you may work on before moving on to the next slide. In
checking the dimensionality of each equation, first identify what the units involved in
the right hand side are, then the left hand side. It is as if you were checking whether
1=(2+1)/3 is correct. You may operate on the units as if they were algebraic variables.

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Two of these equations are dimensionally consistent. Again, a key technique in
answering physics problems is checking whether the dimensions of the Left-Hand-Side
(LHS) and Right-Hand-Side (RHS) match. This is especially useful after doing a lengthy
calculation.

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Another oranges vs apples scenario is when you are dealing with two quantities with
different units representing the same physical quantity, but in different scales.

When you are asked to add up two quantities concerning your age, one measured in
years and another in seconds, you would not simply add the two. The two quantities
differ in what they wish to describe. Again, a second, in layman’s term, happens in the
blink of an eye. However, a year passes by in approximately 32 million seconds.

You would prefer describing an astrophysical phenomenon, like the revolution of a

planet about its parent star, in terms of days or years than in seconds or minutes. On
the other hand, you would rather describe the free fall of an apple in terms of seconds
of minutes than in years.

Hence, when adding two quantities that refer to different scales, one should be familiar
with conversion schemes. These conversion schemes are based on standards through
which they were derived.

For example, if you wish to compare the period in which you can do three eye blinks (1
second), and your current age which on average is 18 years old, you must convert your
age to seconds.

In your early days as a student, you must have encountered ways by which you can
convert one quantity to another. Converting years to seconds can be easy if you know
how many seconds there are in a year right away. But then, most of the time, what we

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know are the segmented conversions that go through timescales of different magnitude.

We go from YEARS to MONTHS to DAYS to HOURS to MINUTES before we end up with a

second. You can always skip a step if you know the direct conversion between two
different timescales (e.g. if you know the song “Seasons of Love,” you would know that
there are *cue music* five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes in one
calendar year).

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Reporting physical quantities could be tricky. Say, we are using the same units
(centimeters) in reporting how long our index finger is. There are many instruments that
can use the same measurement unit. However, these instruments could potentially
have different levels of accuracy & precision.

What do we mean by this? When measuring the length of a finger, I could either use a
ruler that can measure up to half a millimeter (0.0005 [m]) OR I can use marked wood
that can measure up to tenth of a meter (0.1 [m]). Obviously, a ruler could report a
better length measurement since it is accurate up to a thousandth of a meter. This is
where the concept of significant figures comes in.

Say, the actual length of my finger is 0.48356523… meter ([m]). If I wish to report a
measurement from a ruler, I am limited to how certain my measurement is. The ruler’s
measurement can only be reported as 0.4835 [m]. The marked wood, however, can only
report the length as 0.5 [m].

The important takeaway from this is that the number of SF presented could tell us
something about the device used in our measurement.

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What is the difference between accuracy and precision?

The accuracy of a measurement tells us how close the value we obtained to the actual
value; while,
The precision of a measurement tells us how the values we obtained after succeeding
measurements are different from each other.

The dartboard analogy best illustrates the difference between accuracy and precision.

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Notice that uncertainty is almost always reported in 1 SF, except for the last case
(relative uncertainty) where the exact percentage must always be preserved.

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