UNIT 1 REALMS OF PHYSICS

Every day, each of us observes a great variety of objects and phenomena. Over the
centuries, the curiosity of the human race has led us collectively to explore and catalog a
tremendous wealth of information. Prom the fight of birds to the colors of flowers, from
lightning to gravity from quarks to clusters of galaxies, and from the flow of time to the mystery
of the creation of the universe, we have asked questions and assembled huge arrays of facts.
As humans, we make generalizations and seek order. We have found that nature is remarkably
cooperative it exhibits the underlying order and simplicity we so value. It is the underlying
order of nature that makes science in general, and physics in particular, so enjoyable to study.
For example, what do a bag of chips and a car battery have in common? Both contain energy
that can be converted to other forms. The law of conservation of energy ties together such
topics as food calories, batteries, heat, light, and watch springs. Understanding this law makes
it easier to learn about the various forms of energy takes and how they relate to one another. In
learning to apply these laws, in this unit, you will study the realm of physics. You will be able
to quantify and describe physical systems through the underlying concepts about physical
quantities, units, measurements, and vectors.
Overview
The range of objects and phenomena studied in physics is immense. From the
incredibly short lifetime of a nucleus to the age of the Earth, from the tiny sizes of sub-nuclear
particles to the vast distance to the edges of the known universe, and from the force exerted by
a jumping grasshopper to the force between Earth and the Sun, there are enough factors to
challenge the imagination of even the most experienced scientist. To understand nature much
more deeply than does qualitative description alone, numerical values for physical quantities
and equations for physical principles, which is considered in this chapter, is needed. And to
comprehend these vast ranges, we must also have accepted units in which to express them.
At the end of this module, students must be able to:
1. Solve measurement problems involving conversion of units, expression of
measurements in scientific notation
2. Differentiate accuracy from precision
3. Differentiate random errors from systematic errors
4. Estimate errors from multiple measurements of a physical quantity using variance
5. Differentiate vector and scalar quantities
6. Perform addition of vectors
7. Rewrite a vector in component form

Image from Google Physics: The Science of the Universe and Everything In It
Lesson 1 Physical Quantities, Units and Measurements
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Let’s Check Your Knowledge!

Match List I (Units) with List II (Physical Quantity)
I Units II Physical Quantities
(A) Watt 1 Electric Charge
(B) Tesla 2 Power
(C) Coulomb 3 Luminous Intensity
(D) Candela 4 Magnetic Field
(E) kW 5 Pressure
(F) kWh 6 Energy
(G) Nm-2 7 Momentum
(H) Kg ms-1 8 Density
(I) g/cm3 9 Force
(J) Newton 10 Work

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Science- systematized body of knowledge that is based on facts gathered through
observations, experiences, and experiments in order to formulate a verifiable conclusion or law
that serves as basis of technology for the benefit of man and his environment.
3 main roots (bringing about the birth of science)
a. needs b. problems c. curiosity
3 main branches
1. social science
- deals with human behavior
- social and cultural aspects
Politics Economics History
2. applied science
 application of the theoretical sciences like social sciences and natural sciences (e.g.
medicine, engineering, architecture
3. natural science
 understanding and description of nature
a. Biological science
- Zoology - Botany - Microbiology
b. Physical science
- Physics - Chemistry - Geology - Astronomy -
Meteorology
PHYSICS
- Greek word “physikos” meaning natural, study of matter and energy
Branches
1. Classical Physics
o Traditional topics
o Before beginning of the 20th century
o Matter and energy under normal conditions
a. Mechanics
o Study of forces acting on bodies whether at rest or in motion
- Statics – on forces acting on bodies at rest
- Kinematics – on motion without regard to its cause
- Dynamics – on motion and the forces that affect it
b. acoustics – production and propagation of sound waves
c. optics – study of light
- physical optics – production, nature and properties of light
- physiological optics – on the part played by light in vision
- geometrical optics – reflection and refraction of light
d. thermodynamics – relationship of heat and other forms of energy
e. electromagnetism – properties of electric current and magnetism
- electrostatics - electrodynamics - magnetostatics
2. Modern Physics
a. Concerned with the behavior of matter and energy under extreme conditions
a. Atomic or nuclear physics – study of the components, structure and behavior of
the nucleus of the atom
b. Quantum physics – study of the discrete nature of phenomena at the atomic and
subatomic levels; its focus is on the indivisible units of energy called “quanta”
c. Relativistic physics – study of phenomena that take place in a frame of reference
that is in motion with respect to an observer
d. Solid state physics – study of all properties of solid materials, including electrical
conduction in crystals of semiconductors and metals, superconductivity and
photoconductivity
e. Condensed matter physics – study of the properties of condensed materials (solids,
liquids, and those intermediate between them, and dense gas) with the ultimate
goal of developing new materials with better properties; it is an extension of Solid
State Physics
f. Plasma physics – study of the fourth state of matter, plasma
g. Low-temperature physics (Cryogenics) – study of the production and maintenance
of temperatures down to almost absolute zero, and the various phenomena that
occur only at such temperatures

Image from
Google
Branches
of
Physics

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 FUNDAMENTALS OF MEASUREMENT
 MEASUREMENT is comparing a thing with a standard to see how many times as big it is
 MEASUREMENT is a process that uses a well-defined and agreed upon referent (the
thing a word stands for) to describe a standard unit
 MEASUREMENT in chemistry enables us to understand many properties of matter that
is why it must be accurate (agrees with the true value of the quantity being measured;
degree of agreement between a measured value and the true value) and precise (it is
reproducible; degree of exactness to which a measurement can be reproduced; degree of
the instrument’s exactness).
A. Kinds of Measurable Quantities
1. Fundamental Quantities
 measured by direct method
 length (m), mass (kg), time (s), temperature (K), charge (c), amount of
substance (mol), light intensity (cd), electric current (A)
2. Derived Quantities
 other physical quantities are formulated based from the fundamental
quantities
 area, volume, speed, pressure, density, specific heat
B. Systems of Measurement
1. English System
 known as the British Gravitational System
 standard units are based on body parts
a. inch – end joint of the thumb (uncia)
b. foot – length of the foot (30.48 cm)
c. yard – distance from the tip of the nose to the end of the middle finger (3ft or
0.9144 m)
d. cubit – distance from the end of the elbow to the fingertip (18 in or 46 cm)
e. fathom – distance between the fingertips of two arms held straight out (6 ft
or 1.8 m)
o Philippines
a. dama (palm) – width of the palm
b. dali (digit) – breadth of a finger
c. talampakan (foot)
d. timuro – length of a forefinger
e. hakbang – a single stride
f. dakot – a handful
g. gusi – a jar used to measure volume of liquids like tuba and vinegar
h. kaing – a container used to measure the amount of harvested mangoes,
tomatoes and salt
2. Metric System
o established by the French Academy of Sciences in 1791
o decimal-based system of units which was proposed in France by Gabriel
Mouton
o International Systems of Units
o SI (System International)

Measurement Unit Symbol

Length meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Thermodynamic temperature Kelvin K
Electric current ampere A
Amount of substance mole mol
Luminous intensity candela cd
Charge coulomb c

Did you know that…

Scientists chose the speed of light in a vacuum as the basis for the meter
because this has been measured exactly, probably with a very very very small degree
of uncertainty. Moreover, the speed of light does not change through the years.
(speed of light = 299,792,458 meters per second)

The standard clock must be accurate enough to move to the second as stated
in the definition. So the atomic clock was made, containing Cesium-133 and
converting its transitions to ticks in the clock. The atomic clock is the
internationally recognized timekeeping device. All clocks around the world must be
synchronized to the time of this device. These clocks are so accurate that they
gain or lose one second every 1.7 million years.

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 Prefixes for metric units
1024 yotta (Y) 10-1 deci (d)
10 21 zetta (Z) 10-2 centi (c)
1018 exa (E) 10-3 milli (m)
1015 peta (P) 10-6 micro (µ)
1012 tera (T) 10-9 nano (n)
109 giga (G) 10-12 pico (p)
106 mega (M) 10-15 femto (f)
103 kilo (K) 10-18 atto (a)
102 hecto (h) 10-21 zepto (z)
101 deka (da) 10-24 yocto (y)
Uncertainty of a measurement
It can be determined by repeating a measurement to arrive at an estimate of the
standard deviation of the values. Then, any single value has an uncertainty equal to the
standard deviation. The lower the accuracy and precision of an instrument, the larger the
measurement uncertainty is.
Errors in Measurement
- temperature
- magnetic fields
Three sources of errors.
- Negligence or inexperience of a person.
- Faulty apparatus.
- Inappropriate method or technique.
o parallax
o systematic errors (determinate) occur when all the measurements of physical
quantities are affected equally, these give the consistent difference in the readings.
o random errors (indeterminate) take place when repeated measurements of the
quantity, give different values under the same conditions.
Difference between error and uncertainties
o The basic difference between errors and uncertainties is that error is the difference
between the calculated value and actual value, while uncertainty is usually described
as an error in measurement.
Accuracy
o degree of agreement between a measured value and the true value
Precision
o degree of refinement with which operation is performed or a measurement stated
Big Idea
A reliable measurement is both accurate and precise. Any measurement not having these
characteristics will eventually be rendered useless.

SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
 They comprise all digits that are known with certainty plus the first digit that is uncertain.
The position of the decimal point is relevant.
Rules in counting significant figures

Rule Measurement Significant

Expression Figures
1. All nonzero digits are significant. 14567.3 6
34.128 5
3.986 4

2. All zeros between two nonzero digits are 34.0045 6

significant. 1.00006017 9
20037089 8

3. Zeros to the right of a nonzero digit, but to the 108,000000 3

left of an understood decimal point, are not 108,0000 _ 4
significant unless specifically indicated as 108,000000 9
significant by a bar placed above the rightmost,
such zero becomes significant.

4. All zeros to the right of a decimal point but to 0.000509 3

the left of a nonzero digit are not significant.* 0.02876 4
0.0000036 2

5. All zeros to the right of a decimal point and to 0.4087 4

the right of a nonzero digit are significant. 0.030670890 8
700.00000000 11
*The single zero conventionally placed to the left of a decimal point in such an expression is
never significant. It is just used to locate the decimal point.

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Big Idea
Not all digits are certain in measurement. Similarly, nothing in life is certain, so
everyone has to learn to cope with change

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
 Method of writing or expressing very large or very small numbers into its exponential form.
Form: M x 10n
Where: M - number lower than one and not greater than ten
N - number of times the decimal point is moved. It can be a
positive or negative integer.
Rules:
1. Determine M by moving the decimal point in the original number to the left or right
so that the only one nonzero digit is to the left of it.
2. Determine n by counting the number of places the decimal point has been moved.
If moved to the left, n is positive.
If moved to the right, n is negative.
Examples:
Positional form Exponential form
Diameter of the earth = 1 300 000 000 ans. 1.3 x 109 cm
Diameter of a hydrogen atom = 0.000 000 01 cm ans. 1 x 10- 8 cm
Speed of light = 30 000 000 000 cm/s ans. 3 x 1010cm/s

What have I learned so far?

Perform these operations using scientific notation:
1. (1230) + (500)
2. (0.00003574) (7520)
3. (0.000075) / (1500)
4. (4.92 x 106) + (2.7 x 108)
5. (6.85 x 105) x (2.38 x 10-3)

CONVERSION OF UNITS
 A unit conversion factor is used to covert a quantity in one system of units to
corresponding quantity in another system of units.
METRIC to ENGLISH
1cm = 0.3937 in = 0.03281 ft
1m = 39.37 in 3.281 ft = 1.094 yd
1 km = 3281 ft = 0.6214 mi
1cm3 = 0.0610 in3 0.0000 353 ft3
1L = 1.06 qt = 0.265 gal = 0.0353 ft3
1g = 0.0353 oz = 0.00220 lb
1kg = 2.20 lb = 0.00110 tn
1 metric tn (103kg)= 2200 lb = 1.10 tn
ENGLISH to METRIC
1 in = 2.54 cm = 0.0254 m
1ft = 30.5 cm = 0.305 m
1 yd = 91.4 cm = 0.914 m
1 mi = 1609 m =1.609 km
1 qt = 946 ml = 0.946 L
1 oz = 28350 mg = 28.35 g
1lb = 453.6 g = 0.4536 kg
1 tn =907 kg = 0.907 metric tn

Temperature:
K = C + 273 C = K – 273 C = (F - 32) x 5/9 F = (C x 9/5) + 32

Body Surface Area:

BSA = height in cm x weight in kg
3600
What have I learned so far?
Perform these operations using scientific notation:
1. 3.67 x 10-1 km to m
2. 9.752 x 105 m to Mm
3. 6.924 x 104 km to Gm
4. 2.673 x 102 mm to cm
5. 3.904 x 104 mL to L
6. 6.2 m to ft
7. 85 lbs to kg
8. 5’3” to cm
9. 145 km/s to mi/h
10. 9.8 m/s2 to ft/min2

Big Idea
Conversion of units is being done when units of measurements are not the same.
Likewise, when conflicts arise due to differences, one has to make compromises to come
to an agreement that the same parties agree on.

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Summary
 Science seeks to discover and describe the underlying order and simplicity in nature.
 Physics is the most basic of the sciences concerning itself with energy, matter, space
and time and their interactions.
 Physical Quantities are a characteristics or property of an object that can be measured
or calculated from other measurements.
 Units are standards for expressing and comparing the measurement of physical
quantities. All units can be expressed as combinations of four fundamental units.
 Unit conversions involve changing a value expressed in one type of unit to another type
of unit. This is done by using conversion factors, which are ratios relating equal
quantities of different units.
 Significant Figures express the precision of a measuring tool.
 Scientific Notation is the way of expressing very large or very small number into powers
of ten for easy writing.