PHYS 0100

Preliminary Physics I
Lecture 3 :
Dimension and Unit Analysis
Part 2
Ms. Nalini Dookie

1
Determine the dimensions of speed.

5
The kinetic energy of a body can be calculated using:
1
𝐸𝐾 = 𝑚𝑣 2
2
Where
𝐸𝐾 = Kinetic energy
𝑚 = mass
𝑣 = speed
State the dimensions of kinetic energy, [𝐸𝐾 ]

6
What do we mean when we say that an
equation is
“dimensionally homogeneous”?

7
What do we mean when we say that a quantity
is “dimensionless”?

8
Dimension and unit analysis
At the end of the previous lecture students should be able to:
1. Recall the dimensions of the base quantities.
2. Determine the dimensions of derived quantities.
3. Use base dimensions and units to check the homogeneity of
physical equations.

9
Dimension and unit analysis
At the end of this lecture students should be able to:
1. Predict the form of an equation.

10
Galileo and the pendulum…
Story time….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8yrvVO3iaw

N DOOKIE 11
Experiments show that the
frequency, f, of oscillation of a
swinging pendulum is affected
by the length, l, of the
pendulum and the value of
acceleration due to gravity, g.

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 What is the mathematical
relationship between f, l and g?

13
 Predict the form of an equation
• A primary function of science is to experimentally determine how one
quantity varies when another changes for a particular phenomenon.
• For example, experiments show that the frequency, f, of oscillation of a
swinging pendulum is affected by the length, l, of the pendulum and the
value of acceleration due to gravity, g.

14
 What is the mathematical
relationship between f, l and g?

15
 Predict the form of an equation
• A primary function of science is to experimentally determine how one quantity
varies when another changes for a particular phenomenon.
• For example, experiments show that the frequency, f, of oscillation of a swinging
pendulum is affected by the length, l, of the pendulum and the value of
acceleration due to gravity, g.
• First, we write a mathematical relationship in indicial form:
𝑓 ∝ 𝑙 𝑥 𝑔𝑦
𝑓 = 𝐶𝑙 𝑥 𝑔 𝑦 (2)
• where C is an unknown constant which we don’t need to determine right now.
We will use dimensional analysis to determine the unknown indices or powers x
and y.
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• Next, write down the base dimensions of all the variables. Frequency
𝑓 is the number of oscillations in one second. Thus, frequency and time
1
is related by 𝑓 = . Frequency therefore has a dimension of 𝑇 −1 .
𝑇
• Length has dimension 𝐿. Acceleration due to gravity has dimensions
𝐿𝑇 −2 .
• Next, the dimensions of each side of equation (2) must match:
• 𝑓 = 𝐶 𝑙 𝑥 𝑔 𝑦 (3)
• On substituting the dimensions, we obtain:
• 𝑇 −1 = 𝐿 𝑥 𝐿𝑇 −2 𝑦

• Simplifying this dimension equation gives: 𝑇 −1 = 𝐿𝑥+𝑦 𝑇 −2𝑦 . (4)

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• Since the equation must be homogeneous then the power of each
dimension must be the same on the left and right hand sides of the
equation. If the dimension does not appear on one side of the
equation then its power is zero as any variable to the power zero is
one. We rewrite Equation (4) to have 𝐿 and 𝑇 on both sides of the
equation:

𝐿0 𝑇 −1 = 𝐿 𝑥+𝑦 𝑇 −2𝑦 .

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• Now we equate the powers of each dimension. First equate the powers of
length:
𝑥 + 𝑦 = 0. 5
• Now equate the powers of time:
−2𝑦 = −1. 6
1
• We can solve (6) directly and get 𝑦 = . Substituting into (5) we obtain
2
1
𝑥 = −𝑦 = − .
2
• Substituting the values of 𝑥 and 𝑦 into the original equation (2):
1 1
𝑓= 𝐶𝑙 −2 𝑔2 .

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• Neatening this equation gives:
1
𝑔 2
𝑓=𝑐 = 𝐶𝑋
𝑙
• Dimensional analysis tells us that the frequency of the pendulum
varies proportionally with the square root of 𝑔 and is inversely
proportional with the square root of 𝑙. With this relationship we can
conduct an experiment to measure values of 𝑓 for various values of
𝑙 and 𝑔.
1
𝑔 2
• If a graph of 𝑓 against is plotted, the constant C will be the
𝑙
gradient of that line.

20
Dimension and unit analysis
At the end of this lecture students should be able to:
1. Predict the form of an equation.

35
Questions
Tutorial 1 Part 2

N DOOKIE 36