Units and Measurments

RRB ALP
Study Material for Physics

UNITS AND MEASUREMENTS
Unit
●A unit is defined as a standard or fixed quantity of one kind used to measure other
quantities of the same kind.
● Fundamental units and derived units are the two classifications of units.
● Fundamental units: Quantities which cannot be expressed in terms of any other physical
quantities are called fundamental quantities. The units used to measure the fundamental
quantities are called fundamental units Example: Length, mass, time, temperature etc.
● Derived units: Units which are derived from basic units and bear a constant relationship
with fundamental units. Examples are area, volume, pressure, force, etc.
International System of Units

In earlier time scientists of different countries were using different systems of units for
measurement. Three such systems are CGS, FPS and MKS. Base units for length, mass and time in
these systems were as follows:
● FPS system: The basic units of length, mass and time are measured in foot, pound and
second respectively.
● CGS system: The basic units of length, mass and time are measured in centimeter, gram and
seconds respectively.
● MKS system: The basic units of length, mass and time are measured in metre, kilogram and
second respectively.
● S.I. units are referred to as Systems International units.

Fundament Units of FPS, CGS, MKS and SI Units
S.No Basic Quantity FPS CGS MKS SI Units
1 Length Foot Centimetre Metre Metre
2 Mass Pound Gram Kilogram Kilogram
3 Time Second Second Second Second
4 Current Ampere Ampere Ampere Ampere
5 Temperature Fahrenheit Centigrade Centigrade Kelvin
6 Light intensity Candela Candela Candela Candela
SI Base Quantities and Units

There are seven fundamental units in the SI system of units. They are also known as base units.
Quantity SI Unit Symbol
Length Metre M
Mass Kilogram Kg
Time Second S
Electric current Ampere A
Thermo dynamic temperature Kelvin K
Amount of substance Mole Mol
Luminous intensity Candela Cd
SI Derived Units
S.No Quantity SI Unit

1 Area Square metre
2 Volume Cubic metre
3 Velocity Metre/second
4 Acceleration Metre/second square
5 Density Kilogram/metre Cube
6 Work Joule
7 Energy Joule
8 Force Newton
9 Weight Newton
10 Pressure Pascal
11 Frequency Hertz
12 Power Watt
13 Impulse Newton-second
14 Angular velocity Radian /second
15 Electric charge Coulomb
16 Electric potential(voltage) Volt
17 Capacitance Farad
18 Inductance Henry
19 Resistance Ohm
20 Impedance Ohm
21 Reactance Ohm
22 Electrical conductance siemens
23 Magnetic flux Weber
24 Magnetic flux density Tesla
25 Heat Joule
26 Angle Radian
27 Radioactivity Becquerel
28 Luminous flux Lumen
29 Momentum kilogram meter per second
30 Torque Newton metre
31 Specific heat Joule per kilogram kelvin
SI Prefixes Used with Units in Physics
● Unit prefixes are the symbols placed before the symbol of a unit to specify the order of
magnitude of the quantity. They are useful to express very large and very small quantities.
● k (kilo) is the unit prefix in the unit, kilometer.
● A unit prefix stands for a specific positive or negative power of 10.
Name Factor
Femto 10-15
Pico 10-12
Nano 10-9
Micro 10-6
Milli 10-3
Centi 10-2
Deci 10-1
Deka 10
Hector 102
Kilo 103
Mega 106
Giga 109
Tera 1012
Peta 1015
Important Points
● 1 fermi = 10^–15 m
● 1 angstrom = 1 Å = 10^–10 m
● Speed of the light in vacuum is 3.00 × 108 m/s
● Astronomical unit (AU): It is the mean distance of the centre of the Sun from the centre of
the Earth.
● 1 astronomical unit = 1.496 × 10^11 m
● Light year is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances.
● Light year=9.46 × 1015 m
● Parsec: Parsec is the unit of distance used to measure astronomical objects outside the solar
system.
● 1 Parsec = 3.08 × 1016 m
● 1 Parsec = 3.26 light year.
● Time is a measure of duration of events and the intervals between them. The SI unit of time
is second.
● Heat is a form of energy. Temperature is the degree of hotness or coldness of a body. The
relationship for conversion from one temperature scale to the others is
● Mass: Mass is the quantity of matter contained in a body. The SI unit of mass is kilogram
(kg).
1 g = 1/1000 × 1 kg = 0.001 kg
1 mg = 1/1000000 × 1 kg = 0.000001 kg
1 quintal = 100 × 1 kg = 100 kg
1 metric tonne = 1000 × 1 kg = 10 quintal
● Mass of 1 ml of water = 1g
Mass of 1l of water = 1kg
Mass of the other liquids vary with their density.
● Atomic mass unit: Mass of a proton, neutron and electron can be determined using atomic
mass unit (amu).
1 amu = (1/12)th of the mass of C12 atom
Measurement of Length
● Metre scale is used for lengths from 10^–3m to 10^2 m
● Verniercalliper is used for lengths to an accuracy of 10–4 m
● Screw gauge and a spherometer can be used to measure lengths as less as to 10–5m

Units and Measurments

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Units and Measurments

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Units and Measurments

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

RRB ALP

Study Material for Physics

International System of Units

● S.I. units are referred to as Systems International units.

SI Base Quantities and Units

S.No Quantity SI Unit

You might also like