1.

1 Physical Quantity
A quantity which can be measured and expressed in form of laws is called
a physical quantity. Physical quantity (Q) = Magnitude × Unit = n × u
Where, n represents the numerical value and u represents the unit. as
the unit(u) changes, the magnitude (n) will also change but product ‘nu’
will remain same.
i.e. n u = constant, or n1u1 = n2u2 = constant;
1.2 Fundamental and Derived Units
Any unit of mass, length and time in mechanics is called a fundamental,
absolute or base unit. Other units which can be expressed in terms of
fundamental units, are called derived units
System of units : A complete set of units, both fundamental and derived
for all kinds of physical quantities is called system of units.
(1) CGS system, (2) MKS system, (3) FPS system.
(4) S.I. system : It is known as International system of units. There are
seven fundamental quantities in this system. These quantities and their
units are given in the following table.
Quantity Name of Units 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

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 Besides the above seven fundamental units two supplementary units are
also defined - Radian (rad) for plane angle and Steradian (sr) for solid
angle.

1.3 Dimensions of a Physical Quantity

When a derived quantity is expressed in terms of fundamental quantities,
it is written as a product of different powers of the fundamental quantities.
The powers to which fundamental quantities must be raised in order to
express the given physical quantity are called its dimensions.

1.4 Important Dimensions of Complete Physics

Mechanics
S.N. Quantity Unit Dimension
(1) Velocity or speed (v) m/s [M0L1T–1]
(2) Acceleration (a) m/s2 [M0LT–2]
(3) Momentum (P) kg.m/s [M1L1T–1]
(4) Impulse (I) Newton sec or [M1L1T–1]

kg. m/s
(5) Force (F) Newton [M1L1T–2]
(6) Pressure (P) Pascal [M1L–1T–2]
(7) Kinetic energy (Ek) Joule [M1L2T–2]
(8) Power (P) Watt or Joule/s [M1L2T–3]
(9) Density (d) kg/m3 [M1L–3T0]
(10) Angular displacement (θ) Radian (rad.) [M0L0T0]
(11) Angular velocity (ω) Radian/sec [M0L0T–1]
(12) Angular Acceleration (α) Radian/sec2 [M0L0T–2]
(13) Moment of inertia (I) kg.m2 [ML2T0]
(14) Torque (τ) Newton-meter [ML2T-2]
(15) Angular momentum (L) Joule sec [ML2T–1]
(16) Force constant or spring constant (k) Newton/m [M1L0T–2]
(17) Gravitational constant (G) N–m2/kg2 [M–1L3T–2]

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(18) Intensity of gravitational field (Eg) N/kg [M0L1T–2]
(19) Gravitational potential (Vg) Joule/kg [M0L2T–2]
(20) Surface tension (T) N/m or Joule/m2 [M1L0T–2]
(21) Velocity gradient (Vg) Second–1 [M0L0T–1]
(22) Coefficient of viscosity (η) kg/m s [M1L–1T–1]
(23) Stress N/m2 [M1L–1T–2]
(24) Strain No unit [M0L0T0]
(25) Modulus of elasticity (E) N/m2 [M0L–1T–2]
(26) Poisson Ratio (σ) No unit [M0L0T0]
(27) Time period (T) Second [M0L0T1]
(28) Frequency (n) Hz [M0L0T–1]

Heat
S.N. Quantity Unit Dimension
(1) Temperature (T) Kelvin M0L0T0K1]
(2) Heat (Q) Joule [ML2T–2]
(3) Specific Heat (c) Joule/Kg–K [M0L2T–2K–1]
(4) Thermal capacity Joule/K [M1L2T–2K–1]
(5) Latent heat (L) Joule/kg [M0L2T–2]
(6) Gas constant (R) Joule/mol-K [M1L2T–2mol–1K–1]
(7) Boltzmann constant (k) Joule/K [M1L2T–2K–1]
(8) Coefficient of thermal Joule/M-s-K [M1L1T–3K–1]
conductivity (K)
(9) Stefan’s constant (σ) Watt/m2–K4 [M1L0T–3K–4]
(10) Wien’s constant (b) Meter K [M0L1T0K1]
(11) Planck’s constant (h) Joule s [M1L2T–1]
(12) Coefficient of Linear Kelvin–1 [M0L0T0K–1]
Expansion

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 (13) Mechanical eq. of Heat (J) Joule/Calorie [M0L0T0]
(14) Vander wall’s constant (a) Newton m4 [M1L5T–2]
(15) Vander wall’s consatnt (b) m3 [M0L3T0]

1.5 Quantities Having Same Dimensions

S.N. Dimension Quantity
(1) [M0L0T–1] Frequency, angular frequency, angular velocity, velocity
gradient and decay constant
(2) [M1L2T–2] Work, internal energy, potential energy, kinetic energy,
torque, moment of force
(3) [M1L–1T–2] Pressure, stress, Young’s modulus, bulk modulus, modulus
of rigidity, energy density
(4) [M1L1T–1] Momentum, impulse
(5) [M0L1T–2] Acceleration due to gravity, gravitational field intensity
(6) [M1L1T–2] Thrust, force, weight, energy gradient
(7) [M1L2T–1] Angular momentum and Planck’s constant
(8) [M1L0T–2] Surface tension, Surface energy (energy per unit area)
(9) [M0L0T0] Strain, refractive index, relative density, angle, solid
angle, distance gradient, relative permittivity (dielectric
constant), relative permeability etc.
(10) [M0L2T–2] Latent heat and gravitational potential
(11) [M0L0T–2K–1] Thermal capacity, gas constant, Boltzmann constant and
entropy
(12) [M0L0T1]
g = acceleration due to gravity, m = mass, k = spring
constant
(13) [M0L0T1] L/R RC where L = inductance, R = resistance,
C = capacitance

(14) [ML2T–2] I2Rt, Vlt, qV, Ll2, CV2 where I = current,

t = time q = charge, L = inductance, C = capacitance,
R = resistance

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1.6 Application of Dimensional Analysis.
(1) To find the unit of a physical quantity in a given system of units.
(2) To find dimensions of physical constant or coefficients.
(3) To convert a physical quantity from one system to the other.
(4) To check the dimensional correctness of a given physical relation: This is
based on the ‘principle of homogeneity’. According to this principle the
dimensions of each term on both sides of an equation must be the same.
(5) To derive new relations.

1.7 Limitations of Dimensional Analysis.

(1) If dimensions are given, physical quantity may not be unique.
(2) Numerical constant having no dimensions cannot be deduced by the methods
of dimensions.
(3) The method of dimensions can not be used to derive relations other than
product of power functions. For example,
s = u t + (1/2) at2 or y = a sin ω t

(4) The method of dimensions cannot be applied to derive formula consist of
more than 3 physical quantities.
1.8 Significant Figures

Significant figures in the measured value of a physical quantity tell the

number of digits in which we have confidence. Larger the number of
significant figures obtained in a measurement, greater is the accuracy of
the measurement. The reverse is also true.
The following rules are observed in counting the number of significant
figures in a given measured quantity.
(1) All non-zero digits are significant.
(2) A zero becomes significant figure if it appears between two non-zero digits.
(3) Leading zeros or the zeros placed to the left of the number are never
significant.
Example : 0.543 has three significant figures.
0.006 has one significant figures.
(4) Trailing zeros or the zeros placed to the right of the number are significant.
Example : 4.330 has four significant figures.
343.000 has six significant figures.

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(5) In exponential notation, the numerical portion gives the number of significant
figures.
Example :
1.32 × 10–2 has three significant figures.

1.9 Rounding Off

(1) If the digit to be dropped is less than 5, then the preceding digit is left
unchanged.
Example : x = 7.82 is rounded off to 7.8, again x = 3.94 rounded off to

3.9.
(2) If the digit to be dropped is more than 5, then the preceding digit is raised
by one.
Example : x = 6.87 is rounded off to 6.9, again x = 12.78 is rounded off

to 12.8.
(3) If the digit to be dropped is 5 followed by digits other than zero, then the
preceding digit is raised by one.
Example : x = 16.351 is rounded off to 16.4, again x = 6.758 is rounded

off to 6.8.
(4) If digit to be dropped is 5 or 5 followed by zeros, then preceding digit is
left unchanged, if it is even.
Example : x = 3.250 becomes 3.2 on rounding off, again x = 12.650

becomes 12.6 on rounding off.
(5) If digit to be dropped is 5 or 5 followed by zeros, then the preceding digit
is raised by one, if it is odd.
Example : x = 3.750 is rounded off to 3.8, again x = 16.150 is rounded

off to 16.2.

1.10 Significant Figures in Calculation

The following two rules should be followed to obtain the proper number
of significant figures in any calculation.
(1) The result of an addition or subtraction in the number having different
precisions should be reported to the same number of decimal places as
are present in the number having the least number of decimal places.
(2) The answer to a multiplication or division is rounded off to the same
number of significant figures as is possessed by the least precise term used
in the calculation.

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1.11 Order of Magnitude
Order of magnitude of quantity is the power of 10 required to represent the
quantity. For determining this power, the value of the quantity has to be
rounded off. While rounding off, we ignore the last digit which is less than 5. If the
last digit is 5 or more than five, the preceding digit is increased by one.
For example,
(1) Speed of light in vacuum = 3 × 108 ms–1 ≈ 108 m/s (ignoring 3 < 5)
(2) Mass of electron = 9.1 × 10–31 kg 10–30 kg (as 9.1 > 5).

1.12 Errors of Measurement.

The measured value of a quantity is always somewhat different from its
actual value, or true value. This difference in the true value of a quantity
is called error of measurement.
(1) Absolute error—Absolute error in the measurement of a physical quantity
is the magnitude of the difference between the true value and the measured
value of the quantity.
Let a physical quantity be measured n times. Let the measured value be
a1, a2, a3, . . . an. The arithmetic mean of these value is
Usually, am is taken as the true value of the quantity, if the same is unknown
otherwise.
By definition, absolute errors in the measured values of the quantity are
∆a1 = am – a1
∆a2 = am – a1
...........
∆an = am – a2
The
absolute errors may be positive in certain cases and negative in certain
other cases.
(2) Mean absolute error—It is the arithmetic mean of the magnitudes of
absolute errors in all the measurements of the quantity. It is represented
by ∆a. Thus

Hence the final result of measurement may be written as a =

This implies that any measurement of the quantity is likely to lie between

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 (am – ) and (am + ).
(3) Relative error or Fractional error—Relative error or Fractional error

= .

(4) Percentage error : Percentage error

1.13 Propagation of Errors

(1) Error in sum of tie quantities : Suppose x = a + b

Let ∆a = absolute error in measurement of a
∆b = absolute error in measurement of b
∆x = absolute error in calculation of x i.e. sum of a and b.

The maximum absolute error in x is ∆x = ± (∆a + ∆b)
(2) Error in difference of the quantities—Suppose x = a – b
The maximum absolute error in x is ∆x = ± (∆a + ∆b)

(3) Error in product of quantities—Suppose x = a × b

The maximum fractional error in x is

(4) Error in division of quantities—Suppose x =

The maximum fractional error in x is

(5) Error in quantity raised to some power—Suppose x =

The maximum fractional error in x is

• The quantity which have maximum power must be measured carefully
because it’s contribution to error is maximum.

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