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CONCEPT: BASICS OF THE MEASUREMENT

MEASUREMENT
1.1 INTRODUCTION
• Physics is inherently a science of measurement.
• We say, physics is based on exactness and exactness comes from the
measurement.
• What do you mean by a measurement?
o We can answer this question in two different ways; one in general and
other in specific (in accordance with physics).
o Imagine that you are buying mangoes.
▪ What will vendor will ask you?
‘How much do you want’?
▪ You may reply; 2kg or 3kg.
o Here you are expressing the amount of quantity required. Such an act is
called measurement.

In general, the act of measuring a quantity required is known as the

measurement.

In specific, measurement is a comparison of the specified physical quantity

with known standard quality of the equivalent nature.

o To understand the above definition we must learn the physical

quantities, units and other parameters.
• Let’s know about those in this topic.

1.2 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES

The quantities which can be defined and measured are called physical quantities.

Examples: Length, mass, time, acceleration, force, work, energy etc.

Measurement of a physical quantity:

▪ Suppose you have purchased 5kg of wheat flour.

▪ Here you are measuring the mass.

5 – Numeric value or magnitude

kg – Unit or standard

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▪ Measurement of a physical quantity (Q)

= Numerical value (N) x Unit (U)

Therefore, Q= N x U

Numerical value or magnitude:

Number of times the unit present in a physical quantity.

Unit:
A standard of reference used to measure a physical quantity.
Example:
When we say the mass of the wheat flour is 5kg, it means the unit kg is present 5
times in the physical quantity, mass.

1.2.1 TYPES OF PHYSICAL QUANTITIES:

▪ The physical quantities are grouped into two categories – fundamental quantities
and derived quantities.

Fundamental quantities:
The physical quantities which are independent of any other physical quantities for
their measurements are known as fundamental physical quantities.
Examples: Length, mass, time, electric current and so on

Derived quantities:
The physical quantities which are dependent of fundamental quantities for their
measurements are known as derived physical quantities.
Examples: speed, velocity, acceleration, force, work, energy, power etc.

1.2.2 CLASSIFICATION OF UNITS:

▪ The units of physical quantities are classified into two – fundamental units and
derived units.

Fundamental units:
The units used to measure the fundamental physical quantities are known as
fundamental units.
Examples: meter, kilogram, second, ampere and so on

Derived units:
The units used to measure the derived physical quantities are known as derived
units.
Examples: meter per second, meter per square second, newton, joule, watt etc.

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1.3 STANDARD UNITS:

▪ In early days, people used to measure length with the help of various parts of the
body, such as hand span, foot span, arm or cubit, pace

▪ Consider a boy measuring the length of a table, using his hand span.

▪ What is the length of the table?

▪ 6 hand spans.

▪ Now, imagine his father is measuring the same table using his hand span.

▪ What will be the length of the table now?

▪ 3 hand spans.

▪ Which one is the correct length of the table 6 or 3 hand spans?

▪ We cannot say which one is accurate.

▪ Hence, hand span or any other measurement like that is not accurate to measure
the length.

▪ So, we need a standard unit that gives the same length when used by anyone and
anywhere.

1.3.1 FEATURES OF STANDARD UNITS:

1. They should be well defined.

2. They should be independent of time and place.

3. They should be independent of physical conditions like temperature, pressure and

humidity.

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1.4 SYSTEM OF UNITS:

▪ The scientists all over the world have developed basic set of standard units for
measuring various quantities known as system of units.

▪ This system of units are often called as International System of Units (SI Units)

▪ Before, the System of SI Units, we study other units still in use.

1. FPS system:
The system in which length, mass and time are measured by foot (F), pound
(P) and second (S) respectively is known to be as FPS system of unit.

2. CGS system:
The system in which length, mass and time are measured by centimeter (C),
gram (G) and second (S) respectively is said to be as CGS system of unit.

3. MKS system:
The system in which length, mass and time are measured by meter (M),
kilogram (K) and second (S) respectively is known to be as MKS system of unit.

4. System of SI units:
The systems in which length, mass and time are measured by meter, kilogram
and second respectively is known to be as System of SI units.

▪ It is the extended form of MKS system of units.

1.4.1 International System of Units (S.I.Units):

▪ This system is established in 1960 and later accepted in the year 1971 at General
Conference on Weight and Measures.

▪ The table (1) shows the fundamental physical quantities along with fundamental
or base units and with symbols.

▪ In addition to the fundamental physical quantities, there are two other physical
quantities they are supplementary physical quantities and hence their units will
be supplementary units. That is listed here.

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▪ The table (2) shows some derived physical quantities along with derived units and
with symbols.

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1.5 PLAYING WITH MULTIPLES AND FRACTIONS OF 10:

 The study of nature involves objects of small size like atom, nucleus etc. They
belong to small world called microcosm.

➢ If we measure the diameter of hydrogen atom it will be described as a very small

number

0.000000000106m.

 It also involves celestial objects as such sun, moon, other planets, other stars,
galaxies so on. They belong to macrocosm or cosmic world

➢ The diameter of the sun is described by a very large number

1390000000m.

 The above numbers are exceptionally small or big and difficult to remember.

 Then how can this task be simplified?

 It can be simplified by expressing in terms of multiples of 10.

1.5.1 SI ABBREVATIONS (Prefixes):

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Few examples of SI abbreviations:

 Length of a typical virus is of 1μm

1μm=1x10-6m

 Frequency of a radio wave is 300kHz

300kHz=300x1000Hz=300000Hz

 Size of a hard disk is 1TB

1TB=1x1012 byte

 The density of water is 1kg/m3

 A measuring scale is of 15cm

15cm=15x10-2m

Arranging the multiples of 10:

1. If the distance between two objects A and B is 1000m, then write in terms of
multiples of 10 and express it in km.

2. If the mass of a body is 25000g, then write it in terms of multiples of 10 and

express in kg.

3. If the time between two events is 2h, then express it in second.

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4. If the length of a virus is 0.000001m, then write in terms of multiples of 10 and

express it in m.

5. If the mass of a particle is .001g, then write it in terms of multiples of 10 and

express in mg.

6. If the time interval is 0.0000011s, then express it in multiples of 10.

7. The diameter of the sun is described by a very large number 1390000000m.

Express it in km.

8. If we measure the diameter of hydrogen atom it will be described as a very small

number 0.000000000106m. Write it in m.

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1.5.2 RULES OF WRITING S.I. UNITS:

1. Symbols and prefixes are same irrespective of all languages.

2. Always use 0 before the decimal mark when the value is less than 1.

3. No spacing is allowed between prefix and unit.

4. Never use full points or any other punctuation marks after the symbol.

5. Symbols of units cannot be pluralized.

6. A unit named after a scientist must not start with a capital letter when the name is
complete written and capital letter is used when the name is not written completely.

7. The units other than those names can be written in small letters.

8. Never use compound prefixes.

1.5.3 ADVANTAGES OF S.I. UNITS:

1. It is a coherent system of units

i.e. all derived units can be obtained by multiplying or dividing certain set of
fundamental units.

2. It is a rational system of units

i.e. it uses only one unit for a given physical quantity.
Ex: joule is the SI unit of energy for all its different forms.

3. It is a metric system of units

i.e. all multiples and fractions can be expressed in terms of 10 and its powers.

4. System of SI units is closely related to CGS system of units and hence, they can be
easily exchanged.

5. This system is accepted internationally.

1.5.4 MEASUREMENT OF LENGTH, MASS & TIME:

Measurement of length:

Length:

Length is distance between any two points in a space.

▪ Lengths can be measured either directly or indirectly.

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▪ The direct method involves length of chosen standard i.e. 10-5m to 102m with
instruments as spherometers, screw gauges, vernier calipers, meter scales etc.

▪ The indirect method involves length of atomic and astronomical standards by

measuring size of liquid molecule, parallax methods etc.

▪ The length of the objects in the universe vary over a wide range

i.e. in the order of atomic (10-16m, radius of electron) to astronomic ranges (1026m,
size of the observable universe).

Other practical units of length:

▪ 1 fermi =1f= 1x10-15m

▪ 1 angstrom =1A0 =1x10-10m

▪ 1 micron =1μm=1x10-6m

▪ 1 AU (astronomical unit)=1.5x108km

▪ 1ly (light year)=9.46x1012km

▪ 1pc (parsec)=3.1x1013km

Measurement of mass:

Mass:

Mass is the amount of matter contained in a body.

▪ Mass can be measured using physical balance.

▪ In the atomic level, mass can be determined by spectrographs and in the

astronomical scale can be determined by gravitational methods.

▪ The mass varied over the range for different objects i.e. in the order of atomic (10-
30kg, mass of electron) to astronomic ranges (1055kg, mass of the observable

universe).

Other practical units of length:

▪ 1 amu (atomic mass unit) = 1.66x10-27kg

▪ 1 metric tonne =1x103kg

▪ 1 CSL (Chandrasekhar’s limit) =1.4 times of mass of the sun (kg)

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Measurement of time:

Time:

Time is the measure between two events or what clock reads.

▪ We read time as time interval or interval of time.

▪ The time intervals between different phenomena vary over wide range

i.e. in the order of 10-34s, life span of unstable particle to 1018s, average life span of
a star.

***************** END OF THE TOPIC ***************

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