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Edexcel GCSE Physics Your notes

1.1 Expressing Quantities & SI Units

Contents
1.1.1 Units & Prefixes
1.1.2 Conversions & Standard Form

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1.1.1 Units & Prefixes

Your notes
SI Units
There are a seemingly endless number of units in Physics
These can all be reduced to six base units from which every other unit can be derived
These seven units are referred to as the SI Base Units; this is the only system of measurement that is
officially used in almost every country around the world
SI Base Quantities Table

These base units are then used to derive other common units
These units have special names, for example:
Newtons, N [kg m / s2]
Joules, J [N m]
Pascals, Pa [kg / m s2]
Common Units Table

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Your notes

Exam Tip
Sometimes marks in an exam question are given for the unit, so make sure you remember which is the
correct one for the quantity in your answer eg. If the answer is a force, it must have the units
of Newtons (N)

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Prefixes
Physical quantities can span a huge range of values Your notes
For example, the diameter of an atom is about 10–10 m (0.0000000001 m), whereas the width of a
galaxy may be about 1021 m (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 m)
This is a difference of 31 powers of ten
Powers of ten are numbers that can be achieved by multiplying 10 times itself
These come under two categories of units:
Multiples eg. 102, 103
Sub-multiples eg. 10-1, 10-2
Each power of ten is defined by a prefix, these are listed in the table below:
Prefixes Table

Example Conversions
12 GPa = 12 gigapascals = 12 × 109 Pa (12 000 000 000 Pa)
5 kN = 5 kilonewtons = 5 × 103 N (5000 N)
0.1 μA = 0.1 microamps = 1 × 10–7 A (0.0000001 A)

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7 nC = 7 nanocoulombs = 7 × 10–9 C (0.000000007 C)

Your notes
Exam Tip
You will often see very large or very small numbers categorised by powers of ten, so it is very important
you become familiar with these as getting these prefixes wrong is a very common exam mistake!

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1.1.2 Conversions & Standard Form

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Conversions
As well as prefix (powers of ten) conversions (eg. km into m) there are also common unit conversions
One such unit conversion are those for time
The main time conversions are shown in the table below:
Time Conversions Table

Hours & Seconds

A common time unit conversion is between hours and seconds
1 hour = 60 minutes
1 minute = 60 seconds
Therefore 1 hour = 60 × 60 = 3600 seconds
To convert from hours → seconds, multiply by 3600
To convert from seconds → hours, divide by 3600
Hours × 3600 = Seconds
Seconds ÷ 3600 = Hours
Kelvin & Degrees Celsius
A common temperature unit conversion is between Kelvin and degrees Celsius (ºC)
The scale is defined as: 0 K = -273.15 ºC
To convert from Kelvin → Celsius, subtract 273.15
To convert from Celsius → Kelvin, add 273.15
K − 273.15 = oC
oC + 273.15 = K

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Worked example Your notes

A cyclist takes 3.5 hours to travel to their destination. Calculate their time travelled in seconds.

Step 1: State the conversion

1 hour = 3600 s
Seconds = Hours × 3600
Step 2: Calculate the time in seconds
3.5 × 3600 = 12 600 s

Exam Tip
You will be expected to remember these unit conversions in your exam and to confidently convert
between them, so make to practice these to achieve full marks in the calculation questions.

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Significant Figures & Standard Form

Significant Figures Your notes
The significant digits are the digits in a number that contributes to the value of that number
These are sometimes called significant figures (s.f)
In physics, values are rounded to a certain number of significant figures instead of decimal places
Non-zero digits are always significant
123 is 3 s.f
1.78 is 3 s.f
Any zeros between two significant digits are significant
108 is 3 s.f
10003 is 5 s.f
1.006 is 4 s.f
Only a final zero or trailing zeros in the decimal portion (after the decimal point) are significant
0.183 is 3 s.f (the zero is before the decimal - so is not significant)
1,8 and 3 are the significant figures
1390 is 3 s.f. (the final zero is not after a decimal point - so is not significant)
1,3 and 9 are the significant figures
1.40 is 3 s.f (the final zero is after the decimal point - so is significant)
1,4 and 0 are all the significant figures
0.012 is 2 s.f (the zeros are either before the decimal point or is not the final zero - so not
significant)
1 and 2 are the significant figures
1.9000 is 5 s.f (the trailing zeros are after the decimal point - so is significant)
1, 9, 0, 0 and 0 are all the significant figures
When rounding to a certain number of significant figures, this is done in a similar way to round to
decimal places using the following procedure:
1. Find the number of significant figures to round to
2. Go to the digit for this significant figure
3. Look at the value after this digit
If the value is 5 or greater, round this significant digit up
If the value is less than 5, leave this significant digit as it is

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Your notes

Rounding to 2 or 3 significant figures

Examples:
The value 7.8 is 2 s.f
To 1 s.f this is equal to 8

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The value 9.12 is 3 s.f

To 2 s.f this is equal to 9.1
Your notes
The value 3.65 × 10-4 is equal to 3.s.f
To 2 s.f this is equal to 3.7 × 10-4
The value 1020 is equal to 3 s.f
To 2 s.f this is equal to 1000
Standard Form
Standard form is a system of writing large and small numbers which is useful for working with very large
or very small numbers
This also means writing whole lines of zeros can be avoided
Numbers in standard form are in written as:
a × 10n
They follow these rules:
a is a number between 1 and 10
n > 0 for large numbers i.e how many times a is multiplied by 10
n < 0 for small numbers i.e how many times a is divided by 10
For example:
3 × 108 = 300 000 000 (3 multiplied by 10, 8 times)
2 × 10-5 = 0.00002 (2 divided by 10, 5 times)

When rounding a number in standard form to a certain number of significant figures, only the value of a
is rounded (the × 10n value will not be significant)
For example, 5.18 × 106 to 2 s.f. is 5.2 × 106

Worked example
Write the number 143 000 000 in standard form to 2 significant figures

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Step 1: Write the number in standard form

Standard form should look like: a × 10n Your notes
a is a number between 1 and 10, so for this number, it will be 1.43
n is how many times 1.43 is multiplied by 10 to give 143 000 000
This is 8 times
1.43 × 108
Step 2: Write the number to 2 s.f
The 2nd significant figure in this value is the 4
The value after is 3, which is < 5 therefore the 4 is left as it is
1.4 × 108

Exam Tip
In exam questions, always round your answer to the lowest number of significant figures quoted in the
question textFor example, if the question uses the values 2.3 (2 s.f) and 4.667 (4 s.f), then the answer
should be given to 2 s.fIf in doubt, it is normally wise to give the answer to 2 or 3 s.f!

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