Chapter 1

Introduction
 Measurement and Units
 Measurement is the assignment of a
number to a characteristic of an object
or event.
 A quantity is a property that can exist as
a magnitude or multitude. In Physics, we
deal with physical quantities.
Physical quantity
 This is any quantity that can be measured
e.g length
 Measurement and Units
cont…
Unit
 This is a definite magnitude of a
quantity
 A physical quantity is basically

expressed as a number with units

e.g length: L=2m, time; t=1s.
 S.I Units
 In the scientific world, most
measurements are given in S.I. units
 S.I stands for systeme internationale
in French, meaning “international
system”.
 S.I units are agreed international
standard units.
 Base quantities are measured in SI
units
Basic Physical Quantities
 These are quantities which are not
expressed in terms of other
quantities.
 They are also called fundamental
physical quantities.
 The SI units of base quantities are
called basic units or fundamental
units.
Table 1: Basic Physical
Quantities
Quantity SI Unit Name Unit Symbol

Mass kilogram kg

Length meter m

Time second s

Electric current Ampere A

Temperature Kelvin K

Amount of substance mole mole

Luminous intensity candela cd

Derived quantities
 These are all other quantities
which are expressed in terms of
basic quantities by multiplication
or division.
 Table 2 on the next slide shows
some examples of derived
quantities.
Table 2: Derived Quantities
Derived Quantity Unit Name Unit Symbol
Force Newton N
Acceleration Meter per second 2
m/ s
square
Pressure Pascal ?
Work Joule ?
Power Watt ?
Density Mass per volume ?
 Unit Prefixes
 For larger and smaller units, we
write them in a short hand by
multiplying by powers of 10 as in
Table 3.
 Table 3:Unit Prefixes
Prefix Symbol Factor Prefix Symbol Factor

Peta P 1015 deci d 10 1

Tera T 1012 centi c
10 2
Giga G 10 9 milli m
10 3
Mega M 10 6 micro µ
10 6
Kilo k nano n
10 3 10 9
Hector h 10 2 pico p 1012
Deca da fento f
10 10 15
 Changing units
 Replace the unit you are given with
the equivalent quantity in the unit
you want
 Example : Write 72km/hr in m/s
72 km  72000 m
1hr  60 X 60 s  3600 s
72000 m
therefore ,72 km / hr   20 m / s
3600 s
 Dimensional analysis
 It deals with the physical quantity in
question regardless of its unit
 It describes any quantity in terms of
fundamental quantities.
 Dimensions of a physical quantity
are the powers to which the
fundamental quantities must be
raised
Table 4: Some Physical
quantities with their dimensions
Quantity Dimension

Mass M

Length L

Time T

Acceleration
LT 2
Force ?

work ?

We write [X] meaning ‘‘dimension of quantity X’’

 Application of
Dimensional analysis
1. Checking if a given equation is
consistent/valid
 Dimensionally consistent equation
has both sides with the same
dimensions/same SI units
 Let us consider the following
equation:
Application of
Dimensional analysis…
1 2
s  ut  at
2
Where S is the displacement, u is the initial
velocity, a is the acceleration and t is the time
taken. Show that this equation is dimensionally
consistent/correct/valid.
 Application of
Dimensional analysis…
We rewrite the equation, all quantities replaced by
their dimensions, we get:
1
s = ut + at 2 → L = LT−1 × T + LT−2 × T 2
2

L=L+L
L = 2L

We finally get the same dimension of length both sides

of the equation. Therefore, the equation is
dimensionally correct.
 Application of
Dimensional analysis…
2. We also use dimensional analysis to
aderive an equation
 If we know that a quantity is related

in same way to other quantities,

then it is possible to derive an
equation expressing the relationship
Application of
Dimensional analysis…
 Example: Suppose we are told
that the acceleration a of a particle
moving with uniform speed v in a
circle of radius r is proportional to
some power of r, say r n, and some
power of v, say v m. Determine the
values of n and m and write the
simplest form of an equation for
the acceleration
Application of
Dimensional analysis…
We write the relation as
:a ∝ r n v m
a = kr n v m

where k is the proportionality constant

Writing the equation dimensionally, we get
LT−2 = k[L]n [LT −1 ]m

k is dimensionless, so we can take it out of the equation

LT−2 = [L]n LT −1 m

LT−2 = Ln Lm T −m
Application of
Dimensional analysis…
equating the powers, we get

1 = n + m and − 2 = −m

from which, we get m = 2 and n = −1

Therefore, the derived equation is

v2
a=k
r
Decimal point, scientific notation,
precision, accuracy and order of
magnitude

 Decimal point: the number 7.32

has two decimal places and 1500
has no decimal point.
 Scientific notation: this is writing
numbers in powers of 10. For
example, 6342147.14 can be
written in scientific notation as
6
6.34214714 X 10
 When counting decimal places
from right to left, the exponent is
positive
 When counting decimal places
from left to right, the exponent is
negative
 Significant figures (s.f) are the
number of digits in scientific
notation e.g 4.71 has 3 s.f.
 Uncertainty in measurement:
in any measurement there is
always an error, and this is called
uncertainty
 Accuracy refers to closeness of a
measured value to a standard or
known value. For example, if in a
lab you obtain a weight
measurement of 3.2 kg for a given
substance, but the actual or the
known weight is 10 kg, then your
measurement is not accurate.
 Precision refers to the closeness
of two or more measurements to
each other. For example, if you
weigh a given substance five times
and get 3.2 kg each time, then
your measurement is very precise
Order of magnitude: it is a rough approximation of a
quantity to the closest power of 10 e.g 8~10 this reds 8
is of the order of 10

Examples

123~100, and 0.07~0.1

To find order of magnitude, round up or down to

nearest power of 10 e.g 7.62 × 104 ~105 , 3.2 × 102 ~103 ,
8.417 × 10−6 ~10−5 , 1.5 × 10−8 ~10−8
Coordinate Systems
 Used to describe the position of a
point in space
 Coordinate system consists of
 a fixed reference point called the
origin
 specific axes with scales and labels
 instructions on how to label a point
relative to the origin and the axes
Types of Coordinate
Systems
 Cartesian
 Plane polar
 Cartesian coordinate
system
 Also called
rectangular
coordinate
system
 x- and y- axes
 Points are labeled
(x,y)
Plane polar coordinate
system
 Origin and
reference line are
noted
 Point is distance r
from the origin in
the direction of
angle , ccw from
reference line
 Points are labeled
(r,)
Trigonometry Review

opposite side
sin  
hypotenuse
adjacent side
cos  
hypotenuse
opposite side
tan  
adjacent side
More Trigonometry
 Pythagorean Theorem
r x y
2 2 2

 To find an angle, you need the

inverse trig function
 for example,   sin
1
0.707  45
 Be sure your calculator is set
appropriately for degrees or
radians