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3. Physics is a branch of science concerning study of natural phenomena, that is, properties of matter and energy.
1 In general, physics is concerned with the study of energy and the properties and structure of matter.
2 The fields of study in physics can be divided into classical physics and modern physics.
3 Classical physics deals with questions regarding motion and energy. It includes five important areas: mechanics (forces and motion), heat, sound, electricity and magnetism, and light.
4 Modern physics concentrates on scientific beliefs about the basic structure of the material world. Its major fields include atomic, molecular and electron physics, nuclear physics, particle physics, relativity, origin of the universe, and astrophysics.
Chapter 1
Base Quantities
Base Quantities
2. A physical quantity can be represented by a symbol of the quantity, a numerical value for the magnitude of the quantity and the unit of measurement of the quantity.
Length, l = 1.67 m
l - symbol
m - unit
Base Quantities
3. Base quantities are physical quantities that cannot be defined in terms of other quantities.
Base quantity : Length Derived quantity : Area = length x length
Base Quantities
4. Table 1.1 shows five base quantities and their respective SI units.
Base Quantities
Base quantities SI base units
Name
Symbol
Name
Symbol
Length
Mass Time Electric current Temperature
l
m t I T
Metre
Kilogram Second Ampere Kelvin
m
Kg s A K
Derived Quantities
1 Derived quantities are physical quantities derived from base quantities by multiplication or division or both. The unit for a derived quantity is known as a derived unit.
Derived Quantities
2 Table 1.2 shows some examples of derived quantities and their corresponding derived units. Several derived units are complex. Special names are substituted for these units. For example, the unit for the derived quantity, force, is the newton (N).
Derived Quantities
Derived quantities
Velocity = Displacement
Time taken
[Velocity] = = ms1
m s
Acceleration=
-1 [Acceleration] = ms s = ms2
3 [Density] = kg = kgm 3
Scientific Notation
1 Scientists have developed a shorter method of expressing very large or very small numbers. This method is called scientific notation or standard form.
Distance from house to school : 5 000 m
Scientific Notation
2 Scientific notation is based on powers of the base number 10. The scientific notation in standard form is written as:
A x 10n
where (a) 1 A < 10 and A can be an integer or decimal number. (b) n is a positive integer for a number greater than one or a negative integer for a number less than one.
Prefixes
1. Prefixes are used to simplify the description of physical quantities that are either very big or very small.
Prefixes
2. It is not easy to figure out a distance of 100 000 mm. Neither it is easy to imagine the size of an atom which has a radius of 0.0000005 m.
Prefixes
Ram : 512 Mb
HD : 80 Gb
Prefixes
Prefix
GigaMegaKiloDeciCentiMilliMicroNano-
Symbols
G M k d c m n
Power/factor
109 106
Value
1 000 000 000 1 000 000 1 000 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.000 001 0.000 000 001
103
10-1 10-2 10-3 10-6 10-9