PHYSICAL WORLD AND MEASUREMENT, UNIT-

PRACTICE EXERCISE - 1 (UNITS AND MEASUREMENT)

Q1. Express 4456 Å in nanometers and picometer.

Q2. A laser light beamed at the moon takes 2.56 s to return after reflection at the Moon’s surface.
Calculate the radius of the lunar orbit around the earth?

Q3. The light emitted by a quasar takes billions of years to reach the Earth. What is the distance of a
quasar from which light takes 4.0 billion years to reach the earth?[ 1 billion= 109]

Q4. A radar signal is projected towards a planet from earth and its echo is received 8 minutes later.
The distance between the planet and the earth is 2.4 x 1010 m. Calculate the speed of the signal.

Q5. A star 6 light years away is viewed from two locations of the earth six months apart in its orbit
around the sun. Calculate the parallax shown by this star?

Q6. Find the height of a rock mountain, if on moving 250 meter towards the rock in the horizontal
direction through the base of the rock, the angle of elevation of its top increases from 30 to 60.

Q7. A sonar fitted in a submarine sends ultrasonic waves which reach it again after reflecting from
other submarine in 30 second. What is the distance between two submarines? Speed of sound in water
= 1450 ms-1.

Q8. The distance of a planet from the earth is 1.66 x 10 5 km. If the angular diameter of the planet
is 3. Calculate the diameter of the planet.

Er. SACHIN GUPTA (M.TECH. PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH), Mobile: 9463197250 , 7814965805 P-1
 PHYSICAL WORLD AND MEASUREMENT, UNIT-

PRACTICE EXERCISE - 2 (DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS)

Q1. Given that the period T of oscillation of a gas bubble from an explosion under water depends
on P, d and E, where P is the pressure, d is the density of water and E is the total energy of the
explosion. Find dimensionally a relation for T.

Q2. Find the value of 20 joule on a system having 400 g, 15 cm and 15 s as fundamental units.

Q3. If 100 g be the unit of mass, 30 s the unit of time and acceleration due to gravity (980 cm s -2) be
the unit of acceleration, find what will be the new unit of energy?

Q4. If the velocity of light c, the constant of gravitation G and Planck’s constant h, be chosen as
fundamental units find the value of a centimeter in terms of new units of length .
[ c=3x1010 cm/s, G= 6.67x 10-8 dyne cm2 g-2, h= 6.6x10-27 ergs second]

Q5. The velocity v of a particle is given in terms of time t by the equation v = at2 + bt /( 1 +ct), what
are the dimensions of a, b and c.

Q.6. The density of material in CGS system is 4 g cm -3. In a system in which unit of length is 15 cm
and the unit of mass is 30 g, what is the density of the material?

Q7. The position of a particle at time t, is given by x(t) = (V 0 / t) (1 –e -t),Where V0 is a constant and
 > 0. What are the dimensions of V0 and ?

Q8. Convert 20 Newton into dyne using dimensional analysis.

Q9. Convert 150 erg into joule using dimensional analysis.

Q10. Find the value of 20 joule in a system which has 20 cm, 5 kg and 1/2 minute as fundamental
units of length, mass and time.

Q11. The frequency n of a vibrating string of length l under tension F is given by n= where m
is the mass per unit length. Check whether this relation is correct or not.

Q12. Check the correctness of the relation v = where v is the speed of sound in a medium, E and
ρ be the elasticity and the density of the medium respectively.

Q13. A body of mass m is moving in a circle of radius r with angular velocity . Find the expression
for the centripetal force Fc acting on it using method of dimensions.

Q.14. Assuming that the mass m of the largest stone that can be moved by a flowing river depends on
the velocity v, the density of water d and acceleration due to gravity g. Show that m varies as the sixth
power of the velocity of flow.

Q15. Test the correctness of the equation: S = ut + at2.

Er. SACHIN GUPTA (M.TECH. PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH), Mobile: 9463197250 , 7814965805 P-2
 PHYSICAL WORLD AND MEASUREMENT, UNIT-
Q.16. Assuming that the critical velocity V c of a viscous fluid flowing through a tube depends only
upon its density  , radius of the tube r and the coefficient of viscosity , show by the method of
dimensions that Vc = K / r, where K is dimensionless constant.

Q17. The time of oscillation t of a small drop of a liquid under surface tension(s) depends upon the

density d, the radius r and the surface tension s. Prove dimensionally that : t  ( dr3 / s)

Q18. Show that the following relations are dimensionally correct.

(i) F= 2 G M m /(R + h)2 (ii) V =(4 G M/(R+h))
Where G is gravitational constant, F is the gravitational force, m is the mass of satellite, M is the mass
of the planet, R is the radius of the planet and h is the height of the orbit of the satellite from the
surface of the planet.

Q19. E, m, l and G denote energy, mass, angular momentum and gravitational constant respectively.
Determine the dimensions of El2 / m5 G2.

Q20. A particle undergoing certain periodic motion has four different formulae for the displacement y.
Find out the correct formulae on the dimensional grounds if a= maximum displacement of the particle,
v = speed of the particle, T = time period of motion and t = time at any instant.
(i) y = a sin 4πt/T (ii) y = 2a sin vt/4 (iii) y = sin 2t/a

(iv) y = (sin cos ).

Q21. The velocity (v) of water waves may depend upon their wavelength , the density of water 
and the acceleration due to gravity g. Find the relation between these quantities by method of
dimensions.

Q22. If x = at + bt1/2 +ct2 where x is in meters and t in seconds. What are the units of a, b and c?

Q23. If the velocity be 15 cm s-1 , the unit of acceleration be 20 cm s-2 and the unit of force be 60

dyne, what is the unit of mass?

Q24.Check whether the following equation is dimensionally correct or not h = 2T cos  / rd g Where h
is the height of liquid, T is the surface tension of liquid, r is the radius of tube, d is the density of liquid
and g is the acceleration due to gravity.

PRACTICE EXERCISE-3 (ERRORS)

Er. SACHIN GUPTA (M.TECH. PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH), Mobile: 9463197250 , 7814965805 P-3
 PHYSICAL WORLD AND MEASUREMENT, UNIT-

Q1. The time period of oscillation of a simple pendulum in an experiment is recorded as 3.64 s, 3.48 s,
3.55 s, 3.50 s, respectively. Find the time period, absolute error in each observation and the
percentage error.

Q2. The length, breadth and thickness of a block of metal were measured with the help of a vernier
calipers. The measurements are l =(2.000  0.002)cm , b = (1.500  0.003) cm, t= (0.800
0.004) cm.
Find the percentage error in volume of the block.

Q3. A physical quantity Q is given by Q = a 2 b3/5 c / d1/2. The percentage error of measurement in a, b,
c and d are 4%, 15%, 1% and 2% respectively. What is the percentage error in the quantity Q?

Q4. Specific resistance  of a thin circular wire of radius r cm, resistance R ohms and length L is given
by  = r2 R/L. If r = 0.30  0.06 cm, R = 60  1.5 ohm and L = 30.00  0.03 cm, find the
percentage error in  .

Q5. If 25.00 g of a substance occupies 2.5 c.c. Express its density taking the significant figures into
consideration.

Q6. The period of oscillation of a simple pendulum is T = 2 (L /g). L is about 10 cm and is known
to 2 mm accuracy. The period of oscillation is about 1 s. The time of 500 oscillations is measured
with a watch of 0.1 s resolution. What is the accuracy in the determination of g?

Q7. State the number of significant figures in the following:

(i) 4.22 x 104 (ii) 553.00 (iii) 1.057 (iv) 35320
(v) 8.302 (vi) 0.0076 (vii) 34.213

Q8. Two different masses are determined as (20.0  0.5) kg and (30.6  0.3) kg. What is the sum of
their masses?

Q9. To study the flow of a liquid through a narrow tube, the following formula is used  = Pr4 / 8Vl,
where letters have their usual meaning. The values of P, r, V and l are 76 cm of Hg, 0.18 cm, 4.2 cm3
s-1 and 15.3 cm respectively. If these quantities are measured to the accuracy of 0.4 cm of Hg, 0.02cm,
0.2 cm3 s-1 and 0.3 cm respectively, find the percentage error in the value of .

Q10. State the number of significant figures in the following:

(i) 0.005 m2 (ii) 2.83 x 1028 kg (iii) 0.2960 g cm-3 (iv) 9.320 N
(v) 8.003 J (vi) 0.0006032 (vii) 200.09 (viii) 92500
(ix) 822 (x) 0.08840m Nm-2
Q11. A box is 3.53 kg. Two coins of masses 10.15 g and 20.14 g are added to the box. What is (a) the
total mass of the box (b) the difference in the masses of the pieces to correct significant figures?

Q12. Solve the following to correct significant figures:

(i) 690  12.4 (ii) 706 3.6

Q13. The length and breadth of a field are measured as (800  15) m and (400  2) m respectively.
What is the area of the field?

Er. SACHIN GUPTA (M.TECH. PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH), Mobile: 9463197250 , 7814965805 P-4
 PHYSICAL WORLD AND MEASUREMENT, UNIT-
Q14. The percentage errors in the measurement of mass and speed are 4% and 1% respectively. How
much will be the maximum error in the estimate of the kinetic energy obtained by measuring mass and
speed?

Q15. An experiment measures quantities a, b, c and X is calculated from the formula

X= ab4c3.The percentage errors in a, b, c are  5%,  2% and 3% respectively. What is the
percentage error in X?

Q16. The initial and final temperatures of oil bath are(25  0.25)C and (60  0.6)C. What is the
rise in temperature of the bath?

Q17. The length and breadth of ground are measured as Length = (330  5) m, Breadth = (150  5)m.
What is the area of the ground.

Q18. If 30.24 g of substance occupies 3.0 c.c. Express its density by keeping the significant figure in
view.

Q19. Two resistors of resistances R1 = 150 ± 5 ohm and R2 = 240 ± 3 ohm are connected in (a) series
(b) in parallel combination. Calculate the equivalent resistances in both cases.

Q20. The resistance R = V/I when V = ( 300 ± 5) V and I = (20 ± 0.4) a. Find the percentage error in
R.

Er. SACHIN GUPTA (M.TECH. PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH), Mobile: 9463197250 , 7814965805 P-5
 PHYSICAL WORLD AND MEASUREMENT, UNIT-
ANSWER KEYS:

EXERCISE-1 (UNITS AND MEASUREMENTS)

1. 445.6 nm, 445600 pm 2. 3.84 x 108 m 3. 37.8 x 1024 m

4. 108 m/s 5. 0.316 x 10-4 radian 6. 216.25m

7. 21.75 Km 8. 8.68 x 103 Km

EXERCISE-2 (DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS)

1. T = 2. 5 x 105 new unit

3. new unit = 86436 x 106 ergs. 4. 4.03 x 10-33 cm

5. a = [M0L1T -3] , b = [M0L1T -2] and c = [M0L0T -1].

6. 450 new unit 7. V o = [M0L1T0], α= [M0L0T -1] 8.

20x105 dyne

9. 150 x 10 -7 J 10. 9 x 104 new unit 11. yes 12. yes

13. Fc = kmω2r 15. yes 19. [M0L0T0]

20. (i) and (iv) are dimensionally correct. 21. v = K λ1/2g1/2

22. a = [M0L1T -1], b = [M0L1T -1/2] and c = [M0L1T -2]

23. mass= 3gm 24. yes

Er. SACHIN GUPTA (M.TECH. PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH), Mobile: 9463197250 , 7814965805 P-6
 PHYSICAL WORLD AND MEASUREMENT, UNIT-
EXERCISE-3 (ERRORS)

1. =3.54, ΔT1= -0.1, ΔT2 = 0.06, ΔT3 = -0.01, ΔT4 = 0.04; % error = 1.48%.

2. 0.8% 3. 19% 4. 42.6% 5. 1.0 x 101 gcm-3 6. 2.04 %

7. (i) 3 (ii) 5 (iii) 4 (iv) 4 (v) 4 (vi) 2 (vii) 5

8. (50.6 0.8) Kg 9. 51.6%

10. (i) 1 (ii) 3 (iii) 4 (iv) 4 (v) 4 (vi) 4 (vii) 5

(viii) 3 (ix) 3 (x) 4.

11. 3.56 Kg 12. (i) 56 (ii) 2.0 x 102 13. 32 x104 7600 m2

14. 6% 15. 22% 16. (35 0.85) oC 17. 49500 2227.5 m2

18. 1.0 x 101 g/cm3 19. (i) 390 8 ohm (ii) 92.3 6.12 ohm 20. 3.66.

Er. SACHIN GUPTA (M.TECH. PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH), Mobile: 9463197250 , 7814965805 P-7