T H E P H Y S I C S S O C I E T Y

BASIC QUANTITIES AS LEVEL SUMMARY

PHYSICAL QUANTITY- any physical property that can be quantified & measured using
numbers. 2 types of physical quantities are: BASE QUANTITIES and DERIVED QUANTITIES
MAKING ESTIMATIONS (APPROXIMATIONS OF PHYSICAL QUANTITIES)
DENSITY OF WATER 1000 kgm-3
MASS OF A PERSON 70 kg
TYPICAL CURRENT IN APPLIANCES 12 A
VOLUME OF CANNED DRINKS 300cm3
WEIGHT OF AN APPLE 1N

SI UNITS/BASE QUANTITIES have to be used

when calculating any value in physics.
Remember to change gram to kilogram, cm to m
etc., when calculating.
*273 Kelvin=0 Celsius
*1000 Liters= 1m3
Use the prefix table below to convert:

DERIVED
QUANTITIES are
quantities that are
combinations of
base units

Q. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BASIC AND DERIVED QUANTITIES?

BASE QUANTITY- a fundamental quantity not defined in terms of other physical quantities
DERIVED QUANTITY- a quantity related to the base quantities through defining equations

DIMENSIONLESS QUANTITY is a quantity without unit.

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