Chapter 1 Measurement

 Being quantitative in Physics requires measurements

 How tall is Ming Yao? How about
his weight?
 Height: 2.29 m (7 ft 6 in)

 Weight: 141 kg (310 lb)

 Number + Unit

 “thickness is 10.” has no physical meaning

 Both numbers and units necessary for
any meaningful physical quantities

September 4, 2008
 Type Quantities
 Many things can be measured: distance, speed,
energy, time, force ……
 These are related to one another: speed =
distance / time
 Choose three basic quantities:
 LENGTH
 MASS
 TIME
 Define other units in terms of these.

September 4, 2008
 SI Unit for 3 Basic Quantities
 Many possible choices for units of Length,
Mass, Time (e.g. Yao is 2.29 m or 7 ft 6 in)
 In 1960, standards bodies control and define
Système Internationale (SI) unit as,

 LENGTH: Meter
 MASS: Kilogram
 TIME: Second

September 4, 2008
Fundamental Quantities and SI Units
Length meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Electric Current ampere A
Thermodynamic Temperature kelvin K
Luminous Intensity candela cd
Amount of Substance mole mol

Why should we care about SI units?

Mars Climate Orbiter: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/orbiter
September 4, 2008
 SI Length Unit: Meter
 French Revolution Definition,
1792
 1 Meter = XY/10,000,000
 1 Meter = about 3.28 ft
 1 km = 1000 m, 1 cm = 1/100
m, 1 mm = 1/1000 m
 Current Definition of 1 Meter:
the distance traveled by light in
vacuum during a time of
1/299,792,458 second.
September 4, 2008
 SI Time Unit: Second
 1 Second is defined as “atomic clock”– time taken
9,192,631,700 oscillations of the light emitted by a 133Cs
atom.
 Defining unit precisely is a science (important for, for
example, GPS):
 This clock will neither gain nor lose a second in 20 million years.

September 4, 2008
 SI Mass Unit: Kilogram
 1 Kilogram – the mass of a
specific platinum-iridium
alloy kept at International
Bureau of Weights and
Measures near Paris.
 Copies are kept in all other
countries.
 Yao Ming is 141 kg, equivalent
to weight of 141 pieces of the
alloy cylinder.
September 4, 2008
Length, Mass, Time

September 4, 2008
 Prefixes for SI Units
 3,000 m = 3  1,000 m 10x Prefix Symbol
= 3  103 m = 3 km x=18 exa E
 1,000,000,000 = 109 = 1G 15 peta P
 1,000,000 = 106 = 1M
12 tera T
 1,000 = 103 = 1k
9 giga G
 141 kg = ? g 6 mega M
 1 GB = ? Byte = ? MB 3 kilo k
2 hecto h
1 deca da
September 4, 2008
 Prefixes for SI Units
10x Prefix Symbol  0.003 s = 3  0.001 s
x=-1 deci d = 3  10-3 s = 3 ms
 0.01 = 10-2 = centi
-2 centi c
 0.001 = 10-3 = milli
-3 milli m  0.000 001 = 10-6 = micro
-6 micro µ  0.000 000 001 = 10-9 = nano
-9 nano n  0.000 000 000 001 = 10-12
-12 pico p = pico = p
-15 femto f  1 nm = ? m = ? cm
 3 cm = ? m = ? mm
-18 atto a
September 4, 2008
 Derived Quantities and Units
 Multiply and divide units just like numbers
 Derived quantities: area, speed, volume, density ……
 Area = Length  Length SI unit for area = m2
 Volume = Length  Length  Length SI unit for volume = m3
 Speed = Length / time SI unit for speed = m/s
 Density = Mass / Volume SI unit for density = kg/m3

 In 2008 Olympic Game, Usain Bolt sets world record at

9.69 s in Men’s 100 m Final. What is his average speed ?
100 m 100 m
speed     10.32 m/s
9.69 s 9.69 s
September 4, 2008
 Other Unit System
 U.S. customary system: foot, slug, second
 Cgs system: cm, gram, second
 We will use SI units in this course, but it is useful to
know conversions between systems.
 1 mile = 1609 m = 1.609 km 1 ft = 0.3048 m = 30.48 cm
 1 m = 39.37 in. = 3.281 ft 1 in. = 0.0254 m = 2.54 cm
 1 lb = 0.465 kg 1 oz = 28.35 g 1 slug = 14.59 kg
 1 day = 24 hours = 24 * 60 minutes = 24 * 60 * 60 seconds

 More can be found in Appendices A & D in your textbook.

September 4, 2008
 Unit Conversion
 Example: Is he speeding ?
 On the garden state parkway of New Jersey, a car is traveling at a
speed of 38.0 m/s. Is the driver exceeding the speed limit?
 Put 1’s using unit conversion relations, as many times as necessary.
 Multiply or divide numbers and units.
 Begin with 38.0 m/s = (38.0 m/s)  1
 Since 1 mile = 1609 m, so we have 1 = 1 mile/1609 m

 Then m 1mile 38.0 mile

(38.0 )( )   2.36  10  2 mile / s
s 1609m 1600 s
 Finally
mile mile 60s mile
2.36 102  2.36  10 2   2.36 102  60
s s 1 min min
mile 60 min mile
 2.36  10 2  60   2.36  102  60  60  85.0mile / hr
min 1hr hr
September 4, 2008
 Dimensions, Units and Equations
 Quantities have dimensions:
 Length – L, Mass – M, and Time - T

 Quantities have units: Length – m, Mass – kg,

Time – s

Quantity Area Volume Speed Acceleration

Dimension [ A] = L 2 [V] = L3 [v] = L/T [a] = L/T2
SI Units m2 m3 m/s m/s2

September 4, 2008
 Dimensional Analysis
 Necessary either to derive a math expression, or equation
or to check its correctness.
 Quantities can be added/subtracted only if they have the
same dimensions.
 The terms of both sides of an equation must have the
same dimensions.

 a, b, and c have units of meters, s = a, what is [s] ?

 a, b, and c have units of meters, s = a + b, what is [s] ?
 a, b, and c have units of meters, s = (2a + b)b, what is [s] ?
 a, b, and c have units of meters, s = (a + b)3/c, what is [s] ?
 a, b, and c have units of meters, s = (3a + 4b)1/2/9c2, what is [s] ?

September 4, 2008
 Summary
 The three fundamental physical quantities of mechanics
are length, mass and time, which in the SI system have
the units meter (m), kilogram (kg), and second (s),
respectively
 The method of dimensional analysis is very powerful in
solving physics problems.
 Units in physics equations must always be consistent.
Converting units is a matter of multiplying the given
quantity by a fraction, with one unit in the numerator
and its equivalent in the other units in the denominator,
arrange so the unwanted units in the given quantity are
cancelled out in favor of the desired units.
September 4, 2008
 Vector vs. Scalar Review
You also
need to
know the
direction in
which you
should
walk to the
library!
A library is located 0.5 mi from you.
Can you point where exactly it is?
 All physical quantities encountered in this text will be either a scalar or
a vector
 A vector quantity has both magnitude (value + unit) and direction
 A scalar is completely specified by only a magnitude (value + unit)

September 4, 2008
 Vector and Scalar Quantities
 Vectors  Scalars:
 Displacement  Distance
 Velocity (magnitude and  Speed (magnitude of
direction!) velocity)
 Acceleration  Temperature
 Force  Mass
 Momentum  Energy
 Time
To describe a vector we need more information than to
describe a scalar! Therefore vectors are more complex!
September 4, 2008
 Important Notation
 To describe vectors we will use:
 The bold font: Vector A is A

 Or an arrow above the vector: A

 In the pictures, we will always show

vectors as arrows
 Arrows point the direction

 To describe the magnitude of a

vector 
we will use absolute value
sign: A or just A,
 Magnitude is always positive, the

magnitude of a vector is equal to

the length of a vector.
September 4, 2008
 Properties of Vectors
 Equality of Two Vectors
 Two vectors are equal if they have the

same magnitude and the same direction

 Movement of vectors in a diagram
 Any vector can be moved parallel to

itself without being affected

 Negative Vectors
 Two vectors are negative if they have the same
magnitude but are 180° apart (opposite directions)

 
   
A  B; A  A  0 A 
B
September 4, 2008
 Adding Vectors
 When adding vectors, their directions
must be taken into account
 Units must be the same
 Geometric Methods
 Use scale drawings
 Algebraic Methods
 More convenient

September 4, 2008
 Adding Vectors Geometrically
(Triangle

Method)
 Draw the first vector A with the
appropriate length and in the
direction specified, with respect  
to a coordinate system A B 
 Draw the next vector B with the B
appropriate length and in the
direction specified, with respect
to a coordinate system whose 
origin is the end of vector A and
parallel tothe coordinate system 
used for A : “tip-to-tail”. A
 The resultant
 is drawn from the
origin of A to the end of the last
vector B

September 4, 2008
 Adding Vectors Graphically
 When you have many
vectors, just keep
repeating the process
 
A B

until all are included   

 The resultant is still A B C

drawn from the origin  

of the first vector to A B
the end of the last
vector

September 4, 2008
 Adding Vectors Geometrically
(Polygon

Method)  
 Draw the first vector A with A B
the appropriate length and in
the direction specified, with
respect to a coordinatesystem
 Draw the next vector B with

B
the appropriate length and in
the direction specified, with
respect to the same coordinate
system
 Draw a parallelogram

A
 The resultant is drawn as a
diagonal from the origin
   
A B  B  A
September 4, 2008
 Vector Subtraction
 Special case of vector
addition 
 Add the negative of the B
subtracted vector
 
   
A  B  A  B

A 
 Continue with standard   B
vector addition procedure A B

September 4, 2008
 Describing Vectors Algebraically
Vectors: Described by the number, units and direction!

Vectors: Can be described by their magnitude and direction.

For example: Your displacement is 1.5 m at an angle of 25 0.
Can be described by components? For example: your
displacement is 1.36 m in the positive x direction and 0.634 m
in the positive y direction.
September 4, 2008
 Components of a Vector
 A component is a part
 It is useful to use
rectangular components
These are the projections
of the vector along the x-
sin 
a cos 
and y-axes 
a cos 

September 4, 2008
 Components of a Vector
 The x-component of a vector
is the projection along the x-
axis Ax
cos   Ax  A cos 
A

 The y-component of a vector

Ay
is the projection along the y-
sin   Ay  A sin 
axis A
      
A  AxThen,
 Ay A  Ax  Ay

September 4, 2008
 Components of a Vector
 The previous equations are valid only if θ is
measured with respect to the x-axis
 The components can be positive or negative and will
have the same units as the original vector
θ=0, Ax=A>0, Ay=0
θ=45°, Ax=Acos45°>0, Ay=Asin45°>0
ax < 0 ax > 0
θ=90°, Ax=0, Ay=A>0
ay > 0 ay > 0
θ θ=135°, Ax=Acos135°<0, Ay=Asin135°>0
ax < 0 ax > 0 θ=180°, Ax=-A<0, Ay=0
ay < 0 ay < 0 θ=225°, Ax=Acos225°<0, Ay=Asin225°<0
θ=270°, Ax=0, Ay=-A<0
θ=315°, Ax=Acos315°<0, Ay=Asin315°<0
September 4, 2008
 More About Components
 The components are the legs of
the right triangle whose
hypotenuse is A
 Ax  A cos( )
  Ay 
A
 Ay  A sin( ) A x
2
 A2
y and   tan 
1

 Ax 
 A   A  2   A 2

 x y

 Ay 1 
Ay 
tan    or   tan    Or,
 Ax  Ax 

September 4, 2008
 Unit Vectors
 Component of a vector is still vectors
  
A  Ax  Ay
 Vectors have units (i.e. m/s)
iˆ  x ˆj  y kˆ  z

 Unit vectors used to specify direction
 Unit vectors have a magnitude of 1
y
 Then 
j
A  Ax iˆ  Ay ˆj
i
 
x 
z
k
A Magnitude
 A x  A+ySign Unit vector

September 4, 2008
 Adding Vectors Algebraically
 Consider two vectors

A  Ax iˆ  Ay ˆj

B  Bx iˆ  B y ˆj
 Then
 
A  B  ( Ax iˆ  Ay ˆj )  ( Bx iˆ  B y ˆj )
 ( Ax  Bx )iˆ  ( Ay  B y ) ˆj
  
 If C  A  B ( Ax Bx )iˆ ( Ay  B y ) ˆj
 so C x  AxA  Bx A xCy AAy y  B y
September 4, 2008
Example : Operations with Vectors
 Vector A is described algebraically as (-3, 5), while
vector B is (4, -2). Find the value of magnitude and
direction of the sum (C) of the vectors A and B.
 
A  3iˆ  5 ˆj B  4iˆ  2 ˆj
  
C  A  B  (3  4)iˆ  (5  2) ˆj  1iˆ  3 ˆj
Cx  1 Cy  3
2 2
C  (C x  C y )1/ 2  (12  32 )1/ 2  3.16
Cy
  tan 1
 tan 1 3  71.56
Cx
September 4, 2008