Physical measurement

* Measurement
Measurement is the process of comparing an unknown quantity with another quantity
of its kind (called the unit of measurement) to find out how many times the first
includes the second
Examples of physical quantities:
Everything that can be measured is called the physical quantity such as length,
weight, blood pressure, the rate of heart beats, temperature, the level of
hemoglobin in the blood, Cholesterol, mass, time and volume

* Measurement requirements:
1- Physical quantities to be measured 2- Measurement tools needed
3- Units of measurement used

Classification of physical quantities

Basic physical quantities Derivable physical quantities

Quantities which can't be derived Quantities which can be derived from

from other physical quantities such as other physical quantities such as speed,
length, mass, time, temperature and electric volume, acceleration, work, power, energy
charge and force

Example:
Volume is a derivable physical quantity which is derived from length
Volume of cuboid = length × width × height Vol = L × L × L = L3

Measuring units
Measuring systems
Basic quantity French system British system Modern metric system
(Gauss) C.G.S (F.P.S) (International)(M.K.S)

Length Centimeter (cm) Feet Meter

Mass Gram (gm) Pound Kilogram (Kg)

Time Second (s) Second (s) Second (s)

 Measurement units

Physical quantity Unit

Length (L) Meter (m)

Mass (m) Kilogram (kg)
Time (T) Second (s)
Electric current intensity (I) Ampere (A)
Absolute temperature (T) Kelvin (K) ** Two additional units has been
Amount of matter (n) Mole (mol) added:
Luminosity (Iv) Candela (cd) 1- Radian for plane angle
2- steradian for solid angle

Measuring tools
Metric tape, ruler, micrometer and Vernier caliper

Length scale

Roman balance, two pan balance, one pan balance and digital balance

Mass scale

Hourglass, pendulum clock, stopwatch and digital clock

Time scale

Standard units
*Standard meter:
It is the distance between the two marks engraved at both ends of rod of the alloy platinum –
Iridium kept at 00C at the International Bureau of measurements and scales near Paris.
*Second:
The second is defined as equal to 1 / 86400 the average solar day.
Dimensional equation

Is a formula used to express derivable physical quantities in terms of dimensions

the basic physical quantities , length (L), mass (M) and time (T)
[A] = La Mb Tc

Example:

You can determine the unit of measurement For example: The dimensional
equation of the speed
So the measuring unit is

Example:
If you know that acceleration is the rate of change of speed (velocity), find
dimensional formula and measuring unit

Because the dimensional equation of the acceleration is LT-2 , so the measuring unit
is ms-2 or m / s2

Physical Relationship with Dimensional Measu

quantity other quantities equation ring
unit
Area (A) Length Width L × L = L2 m2

Volume (Vol ) Length ×Width× height L × L × L = L3 m3

Density ( ρ ) Mass ÷ volume ( ρ = M / Vol ) M /L3 = ML-3 Kg/m3

Force (F) Mass × acceleration M × LT-2 = MLT-2 Kg m /s2= N

F=m×a
Work, energy Force × displacement MLT-2 × L = ML2T-2 Kg m2 /s2=
W=F×d N.m = J
(W)
Work ÷ time 2 -2 2 -3 2 3
Power (P) ML T / T = ML T Kg m /s =
P=W/t N.m/s=
J/s= W
 -3
Ex. The dimensional formula of density is ML , so the measuring unit of density is
…………..

Ex. 3meters + 150 centimeter = .…… cm + 150 cm = ……. Cm

Or 3 m + …. m = ……. m
1 m + 170 cm = ………

Complete the following table:

Physical quantity Relationship with other Dimensional Measuring unit
quantities equation
Momentum Mass × velocity ……………. ………..

Acceleration Velocity / time ………………. ……….

N.B
* To add or subtract two physical quantities they must have the same dimensions
and units
* Dividing or multiplying different physical quantities produce a new physical quantity.

* Numbers, fractions and numerical constants such as don't have

dimensions

* Importance of dimensional equation:

- Express the drivable quantities.
- To test the validity of physical relations, where the dimensions of both sides
of the equation must be identical.

Example:
Investigate the correctness of the following relationship ( K.E = 1/2 mv2 ) if you
know the dimensions equation of energy is E = ML2T-2

Solution
Dimensional equation for the left side is ML2T-2
It is known that the fraction 1/2 has no measuring unit
Dimensional equation for the right side M L2/T2 = ML2T-2
And it is the same dimensional equation of the left side
Example:
Someone supposed that the volume of the cylinder is given by the relationship Vol
= πrh, where (r) is the radius of the cylinder base and (h) is cylinder height, prove
by use the dimensional formula to investigate the correctness of this relation.
Solution:
Dimensional equation for the left side is L3 ( volume)
Dimensional equation for the right side L×L = L2
( π ) has no measuring unit

‫ ؞‬The physical relation is not correct.

*Problem:
Investigate the correctness of the following relation ( vf = vi + gt ).
Solution :
Vf = vi + gt
LT-1 = LT-1 + LT-2 × T = LT-1 + LT-1

‫؞‬The physical relation is dimensionally correct.

Scientific notation
**Very large numbers and very small numbers are expressed using the number 10
raised for a particular exponent (power of tenth). This method is called standard
formula for writing numbers
For example, if the distance between the stars is estimated
100,000,000,000,000,000 m , the standard writing number is 1×1017m
If the distance between the atoms of solids about 0.000000001 m, the standard
writing numbers = 1×10-9m
Scientific notation a x 10b Ex. 87,500,000 is written as 8.75 x 107
To find a, take the number and move a decimal place to the right one position.

 Original Number: 87,500,000

 New Number: 8.7500000
To find b, count how many places to the right of the decimal.
New Number: 8 . 7 5 0 0 0 0 0

Decimal Count: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7
Now the whole thing: 8.75 x 10
 Exercises

-Write 0.0000000059 in scientific notation = 5.9 × ……..

Complete Scientific Notation Examples

87,499,998 87,499,999 87,500,001 87,500,002

8.7499998 x 10
7 ………….. 8.7500001 x 10
7 …………

Prefix

*Problem (1): The volume of water in a tank = 9 m3, calculate the volume of water in
cm, mm, km3, mm3 and μm3 units.
*Solution:
The volume of water in the reservoir = 9 ×( 102× 102 × 102 ) = 9 × 106 cm3

The volume = 9 ×( 103× 103 × 103) = 9 × 109 mm

The volume = 9 × (10-3 ×10-3 × 10-3) = 9 × 10-9 Km

The volume = 9 × ( 106× 106× 10-6) = 1018 μm3

Problem (2): electrical current intensity is 7 m.A express the intensity of electric
current in microampere unit
Solution

* 1m.A = 10
-3
A 1μ.A = 10-6 A

‫؞‬ 1m.A = 103 A 1m.A = 103 μ.A

1μ.A
* Measurement error:
It impossible to measure any physical quantity with 100 % accuracy. why?

*Sources of error in the measurement:

1-Choosing improper tool, such as using the common balance rather than the
sensitive balance in estimating the mass of gold ring
2-The existence of a defect in the measurement tool.
Example: Defects in ammeter ( the device is out of date and magnet inside
became weak - The pointer is away from zero staging when you disconnecting the
electric current.)
3- Error in measurement manner.
Such as: -low experience in using tools such as multi-meter.
-Looking to the reading with an angle instead of looking perpendicular
to it.

4- Environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and air currents.

**Types of measurement
1-Direct measurement, in which one tool is used to give a direct reading.
Such as using the hydrometer to measure the density of liquids
directly.

2- Indirect measurement, using more than one tool to

measure density of the liquid by measuring the mass
using balance, as well as volume by using measuring
cylinder and then dividing the mass over volume.
* Comparison between the measurement of direct and indirect

P. O. C Direct measurement Indirect measurement

The number of One measuring process More than one measuring
measurement process
Calculations Do not be substituted in Be substituted in a
a mathematical process mathematical
relationship to calculate
the quantity
Errors in measurement There is one error in the There may be several
measurement process errors in the
measurement process (it
happens what is known as
the accumulation of
errors)
Example Measuring volume using a Measure the volume by
graduated cylinder measuring the length,
width and height

Accuracy :- Is how close a measurement close to the actual or accepted value of

whatever is measured.
- Accuracy often depends on the quality of the measuring device.

1- Calculation error in the case of direct measurement:

a- Absolute error ( ∆ x )
It is the difference between the true (xo)value and the measured value (x )
It is always positive value.

b- Relative error (r):

- It is the ratio between the absolute error ( ∆ x ) to the true value (xo)

-The percentage error is considered as an indicator for the accuracy than absolute
error.
- As the percentage error decreases the accuracy of measurement increases.
Examples:
A student measured the length of a pencil and found it equals (9.9 cm) and the real
value of the pencil length is (10 cm), while his classmate measured the length of
the class room he found it equals (9.13 m), while the real value of the length of
classroom (9.11m). Calculate the absolute error and relative error in each case

*Solution:
*In case of first student:
- Calculation the absolute error
- Calculation the relative error
*In case of second student:
Calculation the absolute error :

`
- Calculation the relative error:

- And can be expressed as a result of the measurement process as follows

2-Calculation error in the indirect measurement

The method of calculating the error in the case of indirect measurement varies depending on the
mathematical relationship during the calculation process

Mathematical Example How to calculate the error

relationship
Add Measure the volume of two quantities of liquid Absolute error = absolute
Subtract Measuring the volume of a coin subtracting the error in the first
volume of water before you put them in a measurement + absolute
graduated cylinder the volume of the water error in the second
after placed in the cylinder measurement

Times Measure the area of a rectangle measuring the Relative error = relative
length and width and finding ( L × W ) error in first
Divide Measure the density of the liquid, measure mass measurement + relative
and volume then find mass ÷ volume error in second
measurement
r = r1 + r2
*Problem (2):
Calculate the relative error and the absolute error in measuring the area of the rectangle (A) its
length ( 6 + 0.1 ), and width ( 5 + 0.2 ) .
*Solution:
Relative error in the measurement of length

Relative error in the measurement of width

Relative error in the measurement area

Therefor the area of the rectangle

*Problem (3):
In a practical experiment the physical quantity (L) is calculated from the summation of the
quantities ( L1) and (L2) w, if L1 = (5.2 ± 0.1) cm & L2 = (5.8 ± 0.2) cm. Find the value of L.
Actual value of Lo = 5.2 + 5.8 = 11cm
Absolute error ∆L = 0.1 + 0.2 = 0.3 cm L = 11 ± 0.3 cm

*Problem (4):
Calculate the relative error and the absolute error in measurement of the volume
of a cuboid if the measurement of its measurement as shown
Dimension Measured value cm Actual value cm
Length (x) 4.3 4.4
Width (y) 3.3 3.5
Height (z) 2.8 3

Relative error in measurement of length

Relative error in measurement of width

Relative error in measurement of Height

Relative error in measurement of volume = r1 + r2 + r3 = 0.023 + 0.057 + 0.067 = 0.147
Absolute error
Actual volume of the cuboid
Exercises
Answer