UNITS AND MEASUREMENT

• The standard used for measuring a physical quantity is called a unit.

• A unit is a fixed quantity that is used as a standard for measuring physical
quantities.
• When any given quantity is measured in terms of this unit, the process is
called measurement.
• The unit should be:
❖ Well defined
❖ Easy to reproduce
❖ Easy to compare
❖ Independent of changes in physical conditions
❖ Internationally accepted

History of Measurement
• Before humans created a standardized system of measurement, many
cultures utilized local traditions for measuring objects.
• These are as follows:
o The Cubit - This measurement originated in Egypt about 3000 B.C.
It was used to build pyramids.
o The Fathom - It is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S.
customary systems equal to 6 feet (1.8288 m).
o The Hand-Span - It is the distance between the tip of the smallest
finger and the tip of the thumb. We still use this to measure the
height of horses.
 FUNDAMENTAL UNITS DERIVED UNITS

The units expressed in terms of the

The base unit of the measurements are
fundamental units are known as the
known as the fundamental units.
derived units.

Examples: meter, kilogram etc Examples: Force, weight

The number of derived units are not

There are 7 fundamental units.
defined.

The dimension of the derived unit is

The dimension of the fundamental unit
expressed in power of the fundamental
is expressed in power of the quantities.
quantities.

DERIVED UNITS

Kgm/s

joule
FUNDAMENTAL UNITS

CGS MKS FPS

Cm Metre Foot

Gram Kg Pound

Second Second Second

SI System -1960

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

❖ There is one more unit other than the fundamental and derived units, this
is the supplementary units.
❖ The supplementary units are the dimensionless units.
❖ There are two supplementary quantities:
- PLANE ANGLE and SOLID ANGLE.
❖ The unit of these two quantities is radians and steradians Plane angle dθ
as the ratio of length of arc ds to the Radius r
 ❖ Solid angle domega as the ratio of the intercepted area dA of the spherical
surface, described about the apex O as the center, to the square of its
radius r

Metric System (SI) Prefixes

yotta Y 1024 septillion

zetta Z 1021 sextillion

exa E 1018 quintillion

peta P 1015 quadrillion

tera T 1012 trillion

Example: terahertz

giga G 109 billion

Example: gigawatt

mega M 106 million

kilo k 103 thousand

Example: kiloliter

hecto h 102 hundred

Example: hectare

deka da 101 ten

Example: dekameter

deci d 10-1 tenth

Example: decimeter
centi c 10-2 hundredth
Example: centigram

milli m 10-3 thousandth

Example: milliliter

micro μ 10-6 millionth

Example: microgram

nano n 10-9 billionth

Example: nanometer

pico p 10-12 trillionth

Example: picogram

femto f 10-15 quadrillionth

Example: femtosecond

atto a 10-18 quintillionth

zepto z 10-21 sextillionth

Example: zeptosecond

yocto y 10-24 septillionth

Example: yoctosecond

THE RULES TO BE FOLLOWED WHILE WRITING UNITS

The symbols of units are normally written using small letters in the English
alphabet.
eg. - m (metre), s (second), kg (kilogram)

But there are certain occasions on which capital letters of the English alphabet
are used as symbols. The units named after persons are written like this.

Name of person Physical quantity Unit Symbol

Alessandro Volta Potential difference volt V

Blaise Pascal Pressure pascal Pa

Sir Isaac Newton Force newton N

While writing the names of units never use capital letters

Never use the plural form for symbols

Never use full stop or comma after a symbol except at the end of a sentence

While writing derived units a slash (/) is used to denote division. But never use
more than one slash in one derived unit.

When a derived unit is expressed as the product of other units use a dot or a
space between them
eg. N.m or N m

Do not mix the name of a unit with the symbol

eg. kg/m3 (correct)
kilogram per cubic metre (correct)
kg/cubic metre (wrong)
kilogram per m3 (wrong)
kg per m3 (wrong)
kilogram/m3 (wrong)
kilogram/cubic metre (wrong)

While writing units along with a value, there must be single space between them
Eg. - 273 K ( correct) , 273K (wrong)

Never use more than one unit to express a physical quantity.

Eg. - 10.25 m ( correct) 10 m 25 cm (wrong)
LENGTH

• The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a
time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second. (1983)

• One metre is the length between two markings in the sample rod made by
adding 10% iridium in platinum and preserved at zero degree Celsius at
the International Bureau of Weights measured in Paris.

LEAST COUNT:
• The least count of a measuring instrument is the smallest value that can
be accurately measured with that instrument
• It's a critical factor in getting precise readings from instruments like
vernier calipers and screw gauges.
• Vernier calliper - 0.01 mm -- Measures internal measurements like depth

• Screw gauge - 0.001 mm- - Measures thickness of sheets externally

• AU – 15 CRC KM = 1.496 X 1O’11 M

• LIGHT YEAR = 3 X 10’8 M/S = 9.46 10’12KM

• PARSEC = 3.08X10’16M -3.26 LY

• 1 MILE = 1.6 KM

• 1 FATHOM = 6 FEET
Measurement Value in metre
• 1 km = 1000 m
• 1 cm = 1/100 m
• 1 mm = 1/1000 m
• 1micro m =1/1000000 m
• 1 nm = 1/1000000000 m