Chapter 1: Introduction to Physics

1 Physical quantities Quantities that are measurable

2 Base quantities Physical quantities that cannot be defined in terms of other physical quantities
3 Derived quantities Physical quantities produced from the combination of base quantities through
multiplication, division or both
4 Scientific notation Powers of the base number 10 to show a very large or small number / standard
form
5 Prefixes Group of letters placed at the beginning of a word to modify its meaning, which act
as multipliers
6 Scalar quantity Quantity which has only magnitude(time, temperature, mass, volume, distance,
density, power)
7 Vector quantity Quantity which has both magnitude and direction(force, velocity, displacement,
acceleration, momentum)
8 Error Difference between actual value of a quantity and the value obtained in
measurement
9 Systematic errors Cumulative errors that can be corrected, if the errors are known. (zero error,
incorrect calibration of measuring instrument)
10 Random errors Errors that arise from unknown and unpredictable variations in condition, and will
produce a different error every time.(human limitations, lack of sensitivity, natural
errors, wrong technique)
11 Zero error Error that arises when the measuring instrument does not start from exactly zero
12 Parallax error Error in reading an instrument because the observer’s eyes and the pointer are
not in a line perpendicular to the plane of scale
13 Measurement Process of determining value of a quantity using a scientific instrument with a
standard scale
14 Consistency/Precision Ability of an instrument to register the same reading when a measurement is
repeated
15 Accuracy Ability of an instrument to produce a measurement close the actual value
16 Sensitivity Ability to detect quickly small changes in the value of a measurement
17 Inferences Early conclusion that you draw from an observation or event using information
that you already have on it
18 Hypothesis General statement that is assumed to be true regarding the relationship between
the manipulated variable and responding variable
19 Variable Physical quantity that must be considered in order to describe an observation.
20 Manipulated variable Physical quantity whose values must be determined before the experiment is
carried out.
21 Responding variable Physical quantity that depends on a manipulated variable and is obtained during
the experiment.
22 Fixed variable Physical quantity that must be fixed throughout the experiment.