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The document provides an overview of units in physics, specifically focusing on SI base units and their applications. It outlines the importance of units in measuring quantities like length, mass, and time, and includes exercises for converting and calculating various measurements. Additionally, it explains the use of prefixes to denote multiples or fractions of units.

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3 views

gcse_section_1

The document provides an overview of units in physics, specifically focusing on SI base units and their applications. It outlines the importance of units in measuring quantities like length, mass, and time, and includes exercises for converting and calculating various measurements. Additionally, it explains the use of prefixes to denote multiples or fractions of units.

Uploaded by

himanshu1.cr1712
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Skills From Isaac Covid lessons archive:


isaacphysics.org/pages/covid19_gcse
1 Units

In Physics, measurable quantities usually have a number and a unit. The unit
gives an indication of the size of that quantity and also information about
what the quantity physically represents. This is best understood with ex-
amples.

A quantity such as 15 metres is clearly a length; one cannot measure a mass


or a time in metres. 15 metres is a shorter length than 15 miles, but a longer
length than 15 inches. Without the inclusion of a unit, a length of 15 is mean-
ingless.

To facilitate global collaboration in science, seven units have been selected


as the standard that all scientists should use. These are called SI base units
(which comes from the French name: Système International d’unités). At
GCSE Physics level, you are expected to know and be able to use the first six
of these units.

Quantity Unit name Unit symbol


Length metre m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Electric current ampere A
Temperature kelvin K
Amount of substance mole mol
Luminous intensity candela cd

SI derived units are units given in terms of the SI base units. A speed, for
example, is always a length divided by a time. In SI derived units, a speed
should be given in metres per second (m/s). A volume always includes the
product of three lengths so, in SI derived units, a volume should be given in
cubic metres (m3 ).

You can work out what the appropriate unit for any quantity is by consider-
ing the quantities that are combined in any equation for that quantity.

1
2 CHAPTER 1. SKILLS

Units may also include a prefix. These are included between the number and
the unit and tell you by how much the number should be multiplied.

Prefix Multiply By
mega (M) 1 000 000
kilo (k) 1 000
centi (c) 0.01
milli (m) 0.001
micro (μ) 0.000 001
nano (n) 0.000 000 001

1.1 Complete the table below with the correct SI base units.

Quantity Equation Unit in terms of SI


base units
Area A = L2 (a)
Acceleration a = (v − u)/t (b)
Momentum p = mv (c)
1
Kinetic energy E= 2 mv2 (d)
Gravitational
E = mgh (e)
potential energy
Electric charge Q = It (f )

1.2 Write the following quantities with the appropriate unit and prefix

0.000 001 20 m (a) 5 200 000 mg (b)


6 500 μs (c) 0.000 000 920 km (d)
3 400 000 nA (e) 0.000 027 0 kA (f )
5 500 000 000 nm (g) 6 500 000 cm2 (h)
0.000 044 0 km/s (i) 83 000 mm3 (j)

1.3 Convert these measurements to metres (m):


(a) 240 cm (b) 1 500 cm (c) 95 cm (d) 7.0 × 103 cm
CHAPTER 1. SKILLS 3

1.4 Convert these mass measurements into kilograms (kg):


(a) 2 500 g (b) 350 g (c) 1 020 g (d) 3.80 × 104 g
1.5 Convert these mass measurements into grams (g):
(a) 6.70 kg (b) 3 400 mg (c) 0.050 kg (d) 150 mg
1.6 Convert the following volumes into cubic metres (m3 ) [1 cm3 = 1 ml]:
(a) 2 500 cm3 (b) 68 cm3 (c) 3 700 litres
1.7 Convert the following volumes to litres (L):
(a) 2 500 cm3 (b) 2.0 m3 (c) 560 cm3
1.8 How many cubic centimetres (cm3 ) are there in these volumes?
(a) 1.60 litres (b) 3.25 m3 (c) 0.0625 m3 (d) 0.080 litres
1.9 Convert these areas into square metres (m2 ):
(b)
(a) 4 250 cm2 (c) 2.50 km2 (d) 15.0 cm2
5.3 × 104 cm2
1.10 Calculate the number of square centimetres (cm2 ) in:
(a) 1.44 m2 (b) 0.0275 m2 (c) 3.50 × 10−2 m2 (d) 1.50 × 10−4 m2 35/
46

Additional Units Questions

1.11 Change these times into seconds (s):


(a) 3.0 mins (b) 2 hrs 30 mins (c) 3.6 mins (d) 4 mins 30 secs
1.12 How many seconds are there in a minute, an hour, a day and a year?
1.13 Write the following fundamental constants and data without unit
prefixes.
(a) speed of light = 300 Mm/s (b) g = 9 810 mN/kg
(c) Earth’s radius = 6 370 km (d) red wavelength = 680 nm
1.14 The light-year (ly) is a unit often mistaken as a unit of time. It is
defined as the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in one Ju-
lian year (365.25 days). Use the data in Q1.13 and the equation
speed = distance/time (v = s/t). What SI measurement is 1.0 ly
equivalent to?

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