IFP1014

(PHYSICS)

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION,PHYSICAL
QUANTITIES

1
 Lecture Outline
✓ Measurement and uncertainty ;Significant
Figures
✓ Units, Standards, and the SI System
✓ Physical Quantities & Symbols
✓ Unit conversion

2
Introduction

3
 The Nature of Science
Observation: important first step toward scientific
theory; requires imagination to tell what is important.
Theories: created to explain observations; will
make predictions.
Observations will tell if the prediction is accurate,
and the cycle goes on.
How does a new theory get accepted?
✓ Predictions agree better with data
✓ Explains a greater range of phenomena
 Models, Theories, and Laws

✓ Models are very useful during the process of

understanding phenomena. A model creates mental
pictures; care must be taken to understand the limits of
the model and not take it too seriously.
✓ A theory is detailed and can give testable predictions.
✓ A law is a brief description of how nature behaves in a
broad set of circumstances.
✓ A principle is similar to a law, but applies to a
narrower range of phenomena.
 1.1 Measurement and Uncertainty;
Significant Figures
Measurement is a process to estimate or
determine the magnitude of a quantity.

These measurements should be accurate and

reproducible.

No measurement is exact; there is always some

uncertainty due to limited instrument
accuracy and difficulty reading
results.
 1.1 Measurement and Uncertainty; Significant
Figures
Precision Accuracy
• Is the ability of the • Is the degree of how close a
instrument to give measurement is from the
consistent readings when actual value.
the same physical
• If the measured value is close
quantity is measured
to the actual magnitude:
more than once.
• Is the degree to which ❑ Percentage error is small
several measurement ❑ Degree of accuracy is
provide answers that is high
very close to each other.
 1.1 Measurement and Uncertainty;
Significant Figures

Sensitivity
• Is the abilityto detect a small change in the
quantity which it measures.
• The smallest scale division of a measuring
instrument is a measure of its sensitivity.
 1.1 Measurement and Uncertainty;
Significant Figures

Uncertainty is the difference between the actual magnitude

of a physical quantity and the value obtained in the
measurement.
Estimated uncertainty is written with a ± sign; for example:
8.8  0.1cm

Percent uncertainty is the ratio of the uncertainty to the

measured value, multiplied by 100:
0.1
100%  1%
8.8
 1.1 Measurement and Uncertainty;
Significant Figures

➢ The number of significant figures is the number of

reliably known digits in a number. It is usually possible to
tell the number of significant figures by the way the
number is written:

➢ 23.21 cm has 4 significant figures

➢ 0.062 cm has 2 significant figures (the initial zeroes don’t

count)

➢ 80 km is ambiguous – it could have 1 or 2 significant

figures. If it has 3, it should be written 80.0 km.
1.1 Measurement and Uncertainty;
Significant Figures
 1.1 Measurement and Uncertainty;
Significant Figures

✓ When multiplying or dividing numbers, the result

has as many significant figures as the number used
in the calculation with the fewest significant figures.
Example: 11.3 cm x 6.8 cm = 77 cm.
✓ When adding or subtracting, the answer is no more
accurate than the least accurate number used.
Example: 3.6 cm - 0.57 cm = 3.0 cm
1.1 Measurement and Uncertainty;
Significant Figures

Calculators will not give you the right

number of significant figures; they
usually give too many but sometimes
give too few (especially if there are
trailing zeroes after a decimal point).
The top calculator shows the result of
2.0/3.0.
(correct answer = 0.67)
The bottom calculator shows the
result of 2.5 x 3.2
(correct answer = 8.0)
 1.1 Measurement and Uncertainty;
Significant Figures

Scientific notation is commonly used in

physics; it allows the number of significant
figures to be clearly shown.
For example, we cannot tell how many
significant figures the number 36,900 has.
However, if we write 3.69 x 104, we know it has
three; if we write 3.690 x 104, it has four.
Much of physics involves approximations;
these can affect the precision of a
measurement also.
 1-2 Units, Standards, and the SI System
We will be working in the SI system, in which the
basic units are kilograms, meters, and seconds.
Quantities not in the table are derived quantities,
expressed in terms of the base units.
Other systems: cgs; units are
centimeters, grams, and
seconds.

British engineering system

has force instead of mass as
one of its basic quantities,
which are feet, pounds, and
seconds.
 1-2 Units, Standards, and the SI System

Prefixes
• Is a method to shorten the large values in SI units
• It is written in the following form (so-called standard
scientific notation):

• For example:
• An electron’s mass is about 0.000 000 000 000 000 000
000 000 000 000 910 938 22 kg.

• In scientific notation, this is written 9.1093822×10−31 kg.

1-2 Units, Standards, and the SI System

These are the standard SI

prefixes for indicating
powers of 10. Many are
familiar; yotta, zetta, exa,
hecto, deka, atto, zepto,
and yocto are rarely used.
 1-2 Units, Standards, and the SI System
Example
1.
1.1:
Convert,
(a) 20.5 kJ to J (b) 0.65 nm to m
Solution:
(a) 20.5 kJ to J
1 k = 1000 or 103
= 20.5  1000 J
= 20500 or 2.05  10 4 J
(b) 0.65 nm to m
1 n = 0.000000001 or 10 −9
= 0.65  10 −9 m
= 6.5  10 −10 m
2. Convert,
(a) 3560 J to kJ (b) 35.60 J to kJ
(c) 0.000006 m to μm (d) 0.0000006 m to μm

Solution:
(a) 3560 J to kJ (c) 0.000006 m to μm
= 0.000006 m
= 3560 J
= 0.000006  10 − 6
= 3560 J  103
=6 m
= 3.560 k J
(b) 35.60 J to kJ (d) 0.0000006 m to μm
= 35.60 J = 0.0000006 m
= 35.60  10 3 = 0.0000006  10 − 6
= 0.0356 k J = 0.6  m
 1-3 Physical Quantities

• Anything that can be measured is called

physical quantities.

19
 1-3 Physical Quantities

Base quantities are the fundamental physical

quantities.

• It cannot be derived from any physical

quantities

20
 1-3 Physical Quantities

Derived quantities is quantities that can be

obtained and expressed in terms of base
quantities.
• Derived quantities are constructed from a
combination of several base quantities.

21
 1-4 Unit Conversion

Unit conversions always involve a conversion factor.

Quantity Conversion Factor
Length 1 km = 1000 m = 103m
1 m = 100 cm
1 ft = 0.3048 m = 30.48 cm
1 ft = 12in
1 in = 2.54 cm = 25.4 mm
1 m = 39.37 in = 3.281 ft
Mass 1 kg = 1000g
1 metric ton = 103 kg
1 slug = 14.59 kg
Time 1 h = 60 min
1 min = 60 s
1 h = 3600 s
Force 1 N = 105 dyne
 1-4 Unit Conversion
Example 1.2:
1. Convert,
(a) 365 mm to km
(b) 44 kg to g
Solution:
(a) 365 mm to km
 1 cm  1 m  1 km 
365 mm     
 10 mm  100 cm  1000 m 
= 3.65 10 −4 km
(b) 44 kg to g
 1000 g 
44 kg    = 44000 g  4.4  10 4 g
 1 kg 
 1-4 Unit Conversion

2. Convert,
(a) 205 cm3 to m3 (b) 0.40 mm2 to m2

Solution:

(a) 205 cm3 to m3

3
 1m 
205 cm  
3
 = 2.05  10 − 4 m3
 100 cm 

(b) 0.40 mm2 to m2

2 2
 1 cm   1 m 
0.40 mm 2       = 4.00  10 − 7 m2
 10 mm   100 cm 
 1-4 Unit Conversion

3. Convert,
(a) 33 kmh-1 to ms-1 (b) 0.40 g/m-3 to kg/m-3
Solution:
(a) 33 kmh-1 to ms-1

33 km  1000 m   1 h 
      = 9.17 ms −1
h  1 km   3600 s 

(b) 0.40 g/m-3 to kg/m-3

0.40 g  1 kg 
  
 1000 g  = 4.00  10 −4
kgm −3

m3  
 Exercises 1.2:

1. Convert
(a) 45 cm to km (b) 20 kg to g
(c) 0.02 mm to m (d) 0.44 s to hr
(e) 500 mm to km (f) 50 ft to m

2. Convert
(a) 200 cm2 to m2 (b) 0.25 cm3 to m3
(c) 20 cm3 to m3 (d) 0.01 cm2 to m2

3. Convert
(a) 25 m/s to km/h (b) 25 kmh-1 to ms-1
(c) 0.15 ms-1 to kmh-1 (d) 35 km/s to m/s
(e) 59 gm-3 to kgm-3 (f) 20 kgm-3 to gcm-3