Fundamentals of Physics/Physics and

Measurement
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The word Physics originates from the Greek word Physis, which means nature. Physics in raw terms
is the study of everything around us. Physics is one of the oldest subjects (unknowing) invented by
humanity. Possibly the oldest discipline in Physics could be astronomy.
The goals of Physics or Physicist is to express everyday happenings in a concise mathematical
formula. These formulas are then used by other Physicist and engineers to predict results of their
experiments. For example Isaac Newton (1642–1727) found the laws behind the motion of bodies,
we now use these laws to design rockets that travel to moon and other planets.
Another major thing that Physicists do is to revise the laws from time to time depending on
experimental results. Isaac Newton found laws of motion in the 17th century, these laws worked at
normal speeds, but when a object's speed is comparable to that of speed of light, these laws fails.
Albert Einstein (1879–1955), put forward the theory of relativity which gives the same result of
Newton's laws of motion at slow speeds and far accurate results to speeds that go up to the speed
of light.
Definition: "MEASUREMENT" is the determination of the size/magnitude of something. By
comparing that unknown quantity with some standard quantity of equal nature, known as
measurement unit.

Contents

 1Measurement
o 1.1Scale

 2Length, Mass and Time

 3Dimensional and Unit Analysis

 4Density

 5Conversion of Units

 6Estimates and Order-of-Magnitude calculation

 7Significant Figures

 8Other units

 9Slug

 10Further reading
Measurement[edit]
Measurement is a integral part of Physics like any other scientific subject. Measurement is a integral
part of human race, without it there will be no trade, no statistics. You can see the philosophy of
measurement in little kids who don't even know what math is. Kids try to compare their height, size
of candy, size of dolls and amount of toys they have. All these happen even before they know math.
Math is built into our brains even before we start to learn it. Math provides a great way to study about
anything, that's why we see computers involved in almost anything because they are good at math.
Scale[edit]
Scales are used to measure. One would know a simple ruler or tape could be used to measure small
distances, your height, and possibly much more. In Physics, we do have certain scales for certain
quantities which we will see very shortly.

Length, Mass and Time[edit]

The current system of units has three standard units: The meter, kilogram, and second. These three
units form the mks-system or the metric system.
A meter is a unit of length, currently defined as the distance light travels within 1/299792458 of a
second.
A kilogram is a unit of mass. While it was previously defined as a specific volume of water (e.g. 1 liter
or a 10 cm³ cube), its current definition is based on a prototype platinum-iridium cylinder.
A second is a unit of time. Originally defined as the amount of time the earth needs to make 1/86400
of a rotation, it is now defined as 9192631770 oscillations of a cesium-133 atom.

Dimensional and Unit Analysis[edit]

Dimensional analysis to determine if an equation is dimensionally correct. When you are presented
with an equation, dimensional analysis is performed by stripping the numerical components and
leaving only the unit types (such as Length, Mass, or Time). It may also be used to determine the
type of unit used for an unknown variable. For example, the force of gravity may appear as the
following:

It gets converted to the following:

and as such, the unit of force involves multiplying length and mass, and dividing by the square of the
time.
Unit analysis is similar to dimensional analysis, except that it uses units instead of the basic
dimensions. The same principle applies; the numbers are removed, and the units are verified to be
equal on both sides of the equation.
Density Formula
The formula for density is Density Formula
d = density m = mass v = volume
Density[edit]
Density is the amount of mass per volume. The quantity of mass per unit volume of a substance.The
density, or more precisely, the volumetric mass density, of a substance is its mass per unit volume.
The symbol most often used for density is ρ (the lower case Greek letter rho). Mathematically,
density is defined as mass divided by volume:[1]

where ρ is the density, m is the mass, and V is the volume. In some cases (for instance, in the
United States oil and gas industry), density is loosely defined as its weight per unit volume,[2]
although this is scientifically inaccurate – this quantity is more specifically called specific weight.
For a pure substance the density has the same numerical value as its mass concentration. Different
materials usually have different densities, and density may be relevant to buoyancy, purity and
packaging. Osmium and iridium are the densest known elements at standard conditions for
temperature and pressure but certain chemical compounds may be denser.
To simplify comparisons of density across different systems of units, it is sometimes replaced by the
dimensionless quantity "relative density" or "specific gravity", i.e. the ratio of the density of the
material to that of a standard material, usually water. Thus a relative density less than one means
that the substance floats in water.
The density of a material varies with temperature and pressure. This variation is typically small for
solids and liquids but much greater for gases. Increasing the pressure on an object decreases the
volume of the object and thus increases its density. Increasing the temperature of a substance (with
a few exceptions) decreases its density by increasing its volume. In most materials, heating the
bottom of a fluid results in convection of the heat from the bottom to the top, due to the decrease in
the density of the heated fluid. This causes it to rise relative to more dense unheated material.
The reciprocal of the density of a substance is occasionally called its specific volume, a term
sometimes used in thermodynamics. Density is an intensive property in that increasing the amount
of a substance does not increase its density; rather it increases its mass.

Conversion of Units[edit]
How many kilometers are in 20 miles? To find out, you will have to convert the miles into kilometers.
A conversion factor is a ratio between two compatible units.

You may also see conversion factors between weight (e.g. pounds) and mass (e.g. kilograms).
These factors rely on equivalence (e.g. 1 kilogram is "close enough" to 2.2 pounds) based on
external factors. While that cannot apply in all situations, these factors may be used in some limited
scopes.

Estimates and Order-of-Magnitude calculation[edit]

The order of magnitude gives the approximate idea of the powers of 10 .Any number in the form
a*10b [ here a multiplied by 10.. And 10raised to the power b]if a >or = (10)^0.5 the a become 1 and
b is not changed but when a>(10)^0.5 then a is taken as 10 so power of b increases by 1.

Significant Figures[edit]
A significant figure is a digit within a number that is expected to be accurate. In contrast, a doubtful
figure is a digit that might not be correct. Significant figures are relevant in measured numbers,
general estimates or rounded numbers.
As a general rule, any non-zero digit shown is a significant figure. Zeros that appear after the
decimal point and are at the end of the number are also significant. Zeros at the end of the number
but before the decimal point are not included as significant figures (although exceptions may occur.)
In general, an operation performed on two numbers will result in a new number. This new number
should have the same number of significant digits as the least accurate number. If an exact number
is used, it should have the same number of digits as the estimated number. If both numbers are
exact, the new number should be calculated fully (within reason).
When doing calculations, you should only keep at most 1 doubtful digit; while it is acceptable to keep
them when using a handheld calculator or computer, the final answer should be adjusted to reflect
the correct number of significant digits.

Other units[edit]
The current metric system also includes the following units:

 An ampere (A) is a measure for electric current.

 A kelvin (K) is a measure for temperature.
 A mole (mol) is the amount of substance (based on number of atoms rather than mass.)
 A candela (cd) is a measure for luminous intensity.
 The Lumen (lm) is a measure unit for total amount light visible for the human eye emitted by
a source.
 The lux (lx) is a measure unit for luminous flux per unit area.

Slug[edit]
Slug is the unit of mass in FPS system and it is a derived quantity in FPS system. Slug is define as
the force to accelerate 1 pound (456 grams) of mass to 1ft/s^2. where as * 1 pound is equal to 456
grams. and * 1 slug is equal to 14.5 kilograms. and * 1 slug is equal to 32.174 pounds. in FPS
system * 1 pound is equal to 4.45N (Newton = Force) Note : (Slug is also a name of an animal like
snail)

Further reading