CHAPTER 1

UNITS AND
MEASUREMENT
WHAT IS PHYSICS?
Physics is the field of study dealing with the nature and the characteristics of matter and energy.

Classical Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Optics, Radiation, Vibrations-Sound,

Electricity, Magnetism, Modern Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Cosmology, Relativity, Atomic and
Nuclear Physics...

Classical mechanics studies the rules of motion of physical objects and the forces that cause them to
move, whereas quantum mechanics studies the behavior of the tiniest particles such as electrons,
neutrons, and protons.

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WHY DO WE STUDY PHYSICS?
It is the most basic and fundamental science, which is crucial to understanding universe from the
largest galaxies to the smallest subatomic particles.

Physics challenges our imaginations with concepts, and it leads to great discoveries.

Physics is the basis of many other sciences, including chemistry, oceanography, seismology, and
astronomy and can be applied to biology or medical science.

Physicists are problem solvers. Their analytical skills make physicists versatile and adaptable, so they
work in interesting places.

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MEASURING THINGS
We measure each physical quantity in its own units, by comparison with a standard.
The unit is a unique name we assign to measures of that quantity, for example, 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 (𝑚) for the
quantity length.
The standard corresponds to exactly 1.0 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 of the quantity.
There are many physical quantities that it is a problem to organize them, for example, speed is the
ratio of a length to a time.
We then define all other physical quantities in terms of the base quantities such as length, mass and
time and their standards called base standards.

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INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS
The 14th General Conference on Weights and Measures (1971)
The International Bureau of Weights (BIPM) ensures the uniformity of measurements.
SI– Systéme International (Metric System): The seven SI base units.

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 LENGTH, TIME, MASS
The meter is the base unit of length in SI that is
equal to the distance traveled in a vacuum by
light in 1/299,792,458 second.
The second is the base unit of time in SI which
is defined in terms of the oscillations of light
emitted by an atomic (cesium-133) source:
Transition frequency of the cesium-133 atom, to
be 9192631770 when expressed in the unit Hz,
which is equal to s-1.
The kilogram is the base unit of mass in SI
which is defined in terms of the IPK (Pt-10Ir)
machined into a right-circular cylinder with
height equal to its diameter of about
39 millimeters.

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SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
We use prefixes to express very large and very small quantities.

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How to express the quantities in scientific notation:
Move the decimal point to create a new number between 1 and 10.
Count the number of places the decimal point was moved, power of 10.

3560000000 𝑚 = 3.56×10! 𝑚
0. 000000492 𝑠 = 4.92×10"# 𝑠

Each prefix represents a certain power of 10, to be used as a multiplication factor.

2.35×10"! 𝑠 = 2.35 𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠 = 2.35 𝑛𝑠

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SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
Significant figures (SF) are the number of digits in a value, often a measurement, that contribute to
the degree of accuracy of the value.
When reporting measurements, we use rules of SF:
• Nonzero digits are significant, 2.536 g has 4 SF
• Zeros between non-zero digits are significant, 5.04 ml has 3 SF
• Leading zeros are never significant, 0.045 kg has 2 SF
• With or without a decimal point, trailing zeros are significant, 0.200 g has 3 SF

1.0200×10$ 𝑘𝑔 has 5 SF

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SF in calculations:
4.52 + 1.2 = 5.72 ~ 5.7 (the smallest SF is 2 so we keep 2 SFs)

The number of significant figures in a calculation is determined by the number of significant

figures in other quantities involved.

Depending on the mode setting of your calculator, many more digits might be displayed. Those
extra digits are meaningless.

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DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
We carefully examine the dimensions of all the physical quantities that enter a given situation to
determine the quantities they produce.
• Length – L
• Time – T
• Mass – M
%
Example: Given the equation 𝑥 = & 𝑎𝑡 &, check dimensions on each side.
𝐿
𝐿 = & = 𝑇& = 𝐿
𝑇
The equation is dimensionally correct. There are no dimensions for the constant.

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DENSITY
The density of a material is the mass per unit volume.

𝑚
𝜌=
𝑉

Densities are typically listed in kilograms per cubic meter or grams per cubic centimeter.

The density of water (1.00 gram per cubic centimeter) is often used as a comparison.

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CHANGING UNITS
We change the units by a method called chain-link conversion.

Multiply the original measurement by a conversion factor (a ratio of units that is equal to unity).

Example: 15.0 𝑖𝑛 = ⋯ 𝑐𝑚
2.54 𝑐𝑚
15.0 𝑖𝑛 = 38.1 𝑐𝑚
1 𝑖𝑛

Note that the value inside the parentheses is equal to 1, since 1 inch is defined as 2.54 cm.

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ORDER OF MAGNITUDE
The order of magnitude tells us about the largeness or smallness of a physical quantity.

To find the order of magnitude, the value of the physical quantity is expressed as 𝑎×10' where
1 ≤ 𝑎 < 10 and 𝑏 is a positive or a negative integer.
The exponent of 10, here it is 𝑏, is called the order of magnitude.

• Approximation based on a number of assumptions.

• The power of 10 that applies.
• Drop digits, make reasonable approximations and simplify approximations.

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Example:
Estimate how much water there is in a particular lake, which is roughly circular, about 1 km across,
and you guess it has an average depth of about 10 m.

𝑉 = 𝜋𝑟 &ℎ ≈ 3 500 𝑚 & 10 𝑚 ≈ 8×10( 𝑚) ≈ 10# 𝑚)

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ANGLE MEASUREMENTS
Various units: Degrees and Radians.
360° = 2𝜋 𝑟𝑎𝑑

An angle of approximately 57 corresponds to 1 radian.

Definition of radian:
𝑠
𝜃=
𝑟

where 𝑠 is the length of arc and 𝑟 is the radius both measured in the same units.

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TRIGONOMETRY

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GEOMETRY
Circle of radius 𝑟: Right circular cylinder of radius 𝑟 and height ℎ:

𝐶𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 2𝜋𝑟 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 2𝜋𝑟 & + 2𝜋𝑟ℎ

𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 𝜋𝑟 & 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 = 𝜋𝑟 &ℎ

Sphere of radius 𝑟: Triangle of base 𝑎 and altitude ℎ:

𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 4𝜋𝑟 & 1

𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 𝑎ℎ
4 2
𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 = 𝜋𝑟 )
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QUADRATIC FORMULA

If 𝑎𝑥 & + 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑐 = 0, then we have two solutions which can be obtained by

−𝑏 ± 𝑏& − 4𝑎𝑐
𝑥%,& =
2𝑎

You need to carefully choose one of these solutions as a physical solution.

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Question-1:
The density of iron is 7.86 𝑔⁄𝑐𝑚) under standard conditions. Convert this to 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚).

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Question-2:
The mass of a solid cube is 856 g, and each edge has a length of 5.35 cm. Determine the density of
the cube in basic SI units.

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Question-3:
A pyramid has a height of 481 𝑓𝑡 and its base covers an area of 13.0 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑠. If the volume of a
pyramid is given by 𝑉 = 1⁄3 𝐵ℎ, find the volume of the pyramid in cubic meters. (B: base area, h:
height) (1 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒 = 43560 𝑓𝑡2, 1 𝑓𝑡 = 0.3048 𝑚)

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Question-4:
Which of the following equations are dimensionally correct?

a) 𝑣𝑓 = 𝑣𝑖 + 𝑎𝑥

b) 𝑦 = (2 𝑚)cos(𝑘𝑥), where 𝑘 = 2 𝑚−1. Here 𝑚 is meters.

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Question-5:
A solid piece of lead has a mass of 23.94 𝑔 and a volume of 2.10 𝑐𝑚3. From these data, calculate
the density of lead in SI units ( 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3).

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Question-6:
One gallon of paint (𝑉 = 3.78 × 10−3 𝑚3) covers an area of 25.0 𝑚2. What is the thickness of the
paint on the wall?

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Question-7:
One cubic meter of aluminum has a mass of 2.70 × 103 𝑘𝑔, and 1.00 𝑚3 of iron has a mass of 7.86
× 103 𝑘𝑔. Find the radius of a solid aluminum sphere that will balance a solid iron sphere of radius
2.00 𝑐𝑚 on an equal-arm balance.

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Question-8:
How many significant figures are in the following numbers?
a) 3.788 × 109 m
b) 2.46 × 10−6 s
c) 0.0053 kg

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Question-9:
There are nearly 𝜋 × 107 𝑠 in one year. Find the percentage error in this approximation, where
“percentage error’’ is defined as

|𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 − 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒|

𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = × 100%
𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

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Question-10:
Antarctica is roughly semicircular, with a radius of 2000 km. The average thickness of its ice cover is
3000 m. How many cubic centimeters of ice does Antarctica contain?

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Question-11:
The fastest growing plant on record is a Hesperoyucca whipplei that grew 3.7 𝑚 in14 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠. What
was its growth rate in 𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 (𝜇𝑚/𝑠)?

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