DF014

PHYSICS

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UNIT 1
Physical Quantities and Measurements
1.1 Physical Quantities & Units 1.2 Scalars & Vectors

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1.1 Physical Quantities and Units

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Learning Outcomes
At the end of this topic, students should
be able to:

State basic quantities and their respective SI units State derived quantities (in terms of basic quantities) and their respective units and symbols Perform conversion between SI units.

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Measured quantity

Definition Basic quantity 1.1.a PHYSICAL QUANTITY

Category

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Derived quantity

PHYSICAL QUANTITY

Definition: quantity which can be - observed - measured

2 components: -Basic Quantity -Derived Quantity

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BASIC QUANTITY

Definition

which cannot be derived from any physical quantities.

Quantitys Symbol

Quantity

Length
Mass Time

Temperature
Electric current Amount of substance

Luminous Intensity
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l m t T I n Iv
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Table 1

DERIVED QUANTITY

Definition A physical quantity which can be expressed in term of base quantity.

Derived Quantity
Velocity

Quantitys Symbol

Formula
s t

Volume
Acceleration Density Momentum Force
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V
a

eg : (l) (w) (t)

v t m V mv ma Fs cos
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p F W

Table 2

Work

1.1.b UNITS

Definition

standard size of measurement of physical quantities.

Category Unit prefixes

Base unit S.I unit Derived unit

Conversion of units

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UNITS
Definition standard size of measurement of physical quantities. The common system of units used today : - S.I unit (System International/metric system) - cgs unit - UK.

The unit of base quantity is base unit

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The unit of derived quantity is derived unit

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Base unit
Quantitys Symbol l m t T I n Iv Table 3

Quantity
Length

SI Unit
meter kilogram second kelvin ampere mole candela

Units Symbol
m kg s K A mol cd
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Mass
Time Temperature Electric current Amount of substance Luminous Intensity
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Derived unit
Derived Quantity
Velocity Volume

Quantitys Symbol
v V

Formula
s t eg : (l) (w) (t)

Derived Unit
m s-1 m3

Acceleration
Density Momentum Force Work
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v t
m V mv ma Fs cos

m s-2
kg m-3 kg m s-1 kg m s-2 @ N kg m2 s-2 @ J
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p F W

Table 4

Unit Prefixes

Used for presenting larger and smaller value. Example : How to write the readings below by using unit prefixes?
0.00000000145 m 1234567 g 5000000000 A 1500000000000 J 0.0768921 N
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1. 2.

3.
4. 5.
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Unit Prefixes
Prefix
tera giga

Value
x 1012 x 109

mega
kilo deci

x 106
x 103 x 10-1

centi
milli micro nano pico
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x 10-2
x 10-3 x 10-6 x 10-9 x 10-12

Symbol T G M k d c m
n p
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Table 5

Examples Change 58000 m to km ???? 1 m = 1000 km 58000 m = 58000 (x 10-3 km) = 58 km

Presents 0.000009 s with unit prefixes. 0.000009 s = 9 x 10-6 s =9s

(10-6 = micro = )

Exercise: Change a) 1 cm2 to m2 b) 360 km h-1 to m s-1

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SOLUTIONS : a) 1 cm 2 ? m 2 1 (cm)2 = 1 (10-2 m)2 1 cm 2 = 10-4 m -2 b) 360 km h -1 ?m s -1 360(km) 360(103 m) = (h) (3600s) = 100 m s-1

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S.I Units (system international) The common system of unit Use in base and derived unit - see Table 3 and Table 4 Also can be written in equivalent units. - see Table 6

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Examples for Equivalent Units Physical quantity

Pressure Force

S.I Units
kg m-1 s-2 kg m s-2

Equivalent Units
pascal newton

Units Symbol
Pa N

Power Work Frequency

kg m2 s-3 kg m2 s-2 s-1

watt joule hertz

Table 5

W J Hz

**Sometimes when we use certain instruments to measure physical quantity, the measurement is not in SI unit. DF 014 18

Examples of unit conversion :

(10 m) a) 15 km h = 15 = 4.17 m s (60 60 s)
-1 3 -1

b) 5 mm

= 5(10 m) = 510 m
-3

-3

-9

c) 7 g cm

-3

10 kg = 7 = 7 10 kg m (10 m)
3 -2 3

-3

d) 30 C

= 30 + 273 = 303 K

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