Physics: Principles with Applications

(7th Edition u2013 Ebook PDF Version)

u2013 Standalone book 7th u2013
Ebook PDF Version
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/physics-principles-with-applications-7th-edition-ebook
-pdf-version-standalone-book-7th-ebook-pdf-version/
 18.25

8.5 1.25 8.5

GLOBAL EDITION
This is a special version of a textbook widely used by universi- No t U.S. E d i t i on

PHYS ICS
ITION
ED
ties throughout the world. Pearson published this edition for

VE N T H
PHYSICS 7Ed. GIANCOLI
the benefit of students outside the United States and Canada.

SE
If you purchased this book within the United States or Canada
it has been imported without the approval or permission of
the Publisher, and it does not include all of the same Problems. 6V

PRINCIPLES WITH
11

EDITION

GLOBAL
10 0.010 s

APPLICATIONS
0s t
01

00 0V

Bit levels

See the World through Eyes

that Know Physics
Dear Student,

You don’t have to struggle that hard to learn physics, if you will take the time to read
this book and go to class. As you begin each Chapter, respond to Chapter-Opening
Questions, read the text carefully, answer Exercise questions, and follow in detail all
worked-out Examples— they will teach you how to solve Problems.
Be sure not to miss class meetings. Take notes; you will get more out of class if
you have read the Chapter first. Reread the Chapter—the reinforcement helps, and you
10.875

TH
might catch a crucial point missed the first time.
If you are in medicine, biology, architecture and related fields, you have a
responsibility towards the public who may be your patients or who may be on a bridge
or in a building you worked on; physics will help you fulfill that responsibility.
I hope you have fun discovering how fascinating it is to see the world through
eyes that know physics. Physics is like climbing a mountain: it takes effort, and the
rewards are great.
Your Author

Front cover: North Peak, California. Upper left: analog to digital;

right: electron microscope image of eye’s retina, with cones
artificially colored green, rods beige.

www.pearsoned.co.uk D OU G L A S C .
GIANCOL I

CYA N M AG YEL B L AC K R EG
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_vol_full_iii-ix_v1.4HR.QXD 4-03-2015 11:05 Page vii

21 E LECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION
AND FARADAY’S LAW 590
21–1 Induced EMF 591
21–2 Faraday’s Law of Induction; Lenz’s Law 592
21–3 EMF Induced in a Moving Conductor 596
21–4 Changing Magnetic Flux Produces an
Electric Field 597
21–5 Electric Generators 597
21–6 Back EMF and Counter Torque;
Eddy Currents 599
21–7 Transformers and Transmission of Power 601
*21–8 Information Storage: Magnetic and
Semiconductor; Tape, Hard Drive, RAM 604
*21–9 Applications of Induction: Microphone,
Seismograph, GFCI 606
*21–10
*21–11
*21–12
Inductance
Energy Stored in a Magnetic Field
LR Circuit
608
610
610
24 T HE WAVE NATURE OF LIGHT 679
24–1 Waves vs. Particles; Huygens’ Principle
*21–13 AC Circuits and Reactance 611 and Diffraction 680
*21–14 LRC Series AC Circuit 614 *24–2 Huygens’ Principle and the Law of
*21–15 Resonance in AC Circuits 616 Refraction 681
Questions, MisConceptual Questions 617–19 24–3 Interference—Young’s Double-Slit
Problems, Search and Learn 620–24 Experiment 682

22 E LECTROMAGNETIC WAVES 625

24–4 The Visible Spectrum and Dispersion
24–5 Diffraction by a Single Slit or Disk
24–6 Diffraction Grating
685
687
690
22–1 Changing Electric Fields Produce
Magnetic Fields; Maxwell’s Equations 626 24–7 The Spectrometer and Spectroscopy 692
22–2 Production of Electromagnetic Waves 627 24–8 Interference in Thin Films 693
22–3 Light as an Electromagnetic Wave *24–9 Michelson Interferometer 698
and the Electromagnetic Spectrum 629 24–10 Polarization 699
22–4 Measuring the Speed of Light 632 *24–11 Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) 703
22–5 Energy in EM Waves 633 *24–12 Scattering of Light by the Atmosphere 704
22–6 Momentum Transfer and Radiation Questions, MisConceptual Questions 705–7
Pressure 635 Problems, Search and Learn 707–12
22–7 Radio and Television; Wireless
Communication
Questions, MisConceptual Questions 640
Problems, Search and Learn 641–43
636
25 O PTICAL INSTRUMENTS 713
25–1 Cameras: Film and Digital 713
23 L IGHT: GEOMETRIC OPTICS 644 25–2
25–3
The Human Eye; Corrective Lenses
Magnifying Glass
719
722
23–1 The Ray Model of Light 645 25–4 Telescopes 723
23–2 Reflection; Image Formation by a 25–5 Compound Microscope 726
Plane Mirror 645 25–6 Aberrations of Lenses and Mirrors 727
23–3 Formation of Images by Spherical 25–7 Limits of Resolution; Circular Apertures 728
Mirrors 649
25–8 Resolution of Telescopes and
23–4 Index of Refraction 656 Microscopes; the l Limit 730
23–5 Refraction: Snell’s Law 657 25–9 Resolution of the Human Eye
23–6 Total Internal Reflection; Fiber Optics 659 and Useful Magnification 732
23–7 Thin Lenses; Ray Tracing 661 *25–10 Specialty Microscopes and Contrast 733
23–8 The Thin Lens Equation 664 25–11 X-Rays and X-Ray Diffraction 733
*23–9 Combinations of Lenses 668 *25–12 X-Ray Imaging and Computed
*23–10 Lensmaker’s Equation 670 Tomography (CT Scan) 735
Questions, MisConceptual Questions 671–73 Questions, MisConceptual Questions 738–39
Problems, Search and Learn 673–78 Problems, Search and Learn 740–43

CONTENTS vii
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_vol_full_iii-ix_v1.4HR.QXD 4-03-2015 11:05 Page viii

26 TR HE SPECIAL
ELATIVITY
THEORY OF
744 28 Q UANTUM MECHANICS OF ATOMS 803
26–1 Galilean–Newtonian Relativity 745 28–1 Quantum Mechanics—A New Theory 804
26–2 Postulates of the Special Theory 28–2 The Wave Function and Its Interpretation;
of Relativity 748 the Double-Slit Experiment 804
26–3 Simultaneity 749 28–3 The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle 806
26–4 Time Dilation and the Twin Paradox 750 28–4 Philosophic Implications;
26–5 Length Contraction 756 Probability versus Determinism 810
26–6 Four-Dimensional Space–Time 758 28–5 Quantum-Mechanical View of Atoms 811
28–6 Quantum Mechanics of the
26–7 Relativistic Momentum 759 Hydrogen Atom; Quantum Numbers 812
26–8 The Ultimate Speed 760 28–7 Multielectron Atoms; the Exclusion Principle 815
26–9 E = mc2 ; Mass and Energy 760 28–8 The Periodic Table of Elements 816
26–10 Relativistic Addition of Velocities 764 *28–9 X-Ray Spectra and Atomic Number 817
26–11 The Impact of Special Relativity 765 *28–10 Fluorescence and Phosphorescence 820
Questions, MisConceptual Questions 766–67 28–11 Lasers 820
Problems, Search and Learn 767–70 *28–12 Holography 823
Questions, MisConceptual Questions 825–26
Problems, Search and Learn 826–28

29 M OLECULES AND SOLIDS 829

*29–1 Bonding in Molecules 829
*29–2 Potential-Energy Diagrams for Molecules 832
*29–3 Weak (van der Waals) Bonds 834
*29–4 Molecular Spectra 837
*29–5 Bonding in Solids 840
*29–6 Free-Electron Theory of Metals;
Fermi Energy 841
*29–7 Band Theory of Solids 842
*29–8 Semiconductors and Doping 844
*29–9 Semiconductor Diodes, LEDs, OLEDs 845
*29–10 Transistors: Bipolar and MOSFETs 850

27 EM ARLY QUANTUM THEORY AND *29–11 Integrated Circuits, 22-nm Technology 851
ODELS OF THE ATOM 771 Questions, MisConceptual Questions 852–53
Problems, Search and Learn 854–56
27–1 Discovery and Properties of the Electron 772
NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND
27–2 Blackbody Radiation;
Planck’s Quantum Hypothesis
27–3 Photon Theory of Light and the
774 30 RADIOACTIVITY 857
30–1 Structure and Properties of the Nucleus 858
Photoelectric Effect 775 30–2 Binding Energy and Nuclear Forces 860
27–4 Energy, Mass, and Momentum of a 30–3 Radioactivity 863
Photon 779 Alpha Decay 864
30–4
*27–5 Compton Effect 780 30–5 Beta Decay 866
27–6 Photon Interactions; Pair Production 781 30–6 Gamma Decay 868
27–7 Wave–Particle Duality; the Principle of 30–7 Conservation of Nucleon Number and
Complementarity 782 Other Conservation Laws 869
27–8 Wave Nature of Matter 782 30–8 Half-Life and Rate of Decay 869
27–9 Electron Microscopes 785 30–9 Calculations Involving Decay Rates
27–10 Early Models of the Atom 786 and Half-Life 872
27–11 Atomic Spectra: Key to the Structure 30–10 Decay Series 873
of the Atom 787 30–11 Radioactive Dating 874
27–12 The Bohr Model 789 *30–12 Stability and Tunneling 876
27–13 de Broglie’s Hypothesis Applied to Atoms 795 30–13 Detection of Particles 877
Questions, MisConceptual Questions 797–98 Questions, MisConceptual Questions 879–81
Problems, Search and Learn 799–802 Problems, Search and Learn 881–84

viii CONTENTS
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_vol_full_iii-ix_v1.4HR.QXD 4-03-2015 11:05 Page ix

31 NE UCLEAR ENERGY;
FFECTS AND USES OF RADIATION 885 33 AC STROPHYSICS AND
OSMOLOGY 947
31–1 Nuclear Reactions and the 33–1 Stars and Galaxies 948
Transmutation of Elements 885 33–2 Stellar Evolution: Birth and Death
31–2 Nuclear Fission; Nuclear Reactors 889 of Stars, Nucleosynthesis 951
31–3 Nuclear Fusion 894 33–3 Distance Measurements 957
31–4 Passage of Radiation Through Matter; 33–4 General Relativity: Gravity and the
Biological Damage 898 Curvature of Space 959
31–5 Measurement of Radiation—Dosimetry 899 33–5 The Expanding Universe: Redshift and
*31–6 Radiation Therapy 903 Hubble’s Law 964
*31–7 Tracers in Research and Medicine 904 33–6 The Big Bang and the Cosmic
*31–8 Emission Tomography: PET and SPECT 905 Microwave Background 967
31–9 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) 33–7 The Standard Cosmological Model:
and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) 906 Early History of the Universe 970
Questions, MisConceptual Questions 909–10 33–8 Inflation: Explaining Flatness,
Problems, Search and Learn 911–14 Uniformity, and Structure 973
33–9 Dark Matter and Dark Energy 975

32 E LEMENTARY PARTICLES 915

33–10 Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
33–11 Finally . . .
Questions, MisConceptual Questions 980–81
977
978
32–1 High-Energy Particles and Accelerators 916
Problems, Search and Learn 981–83
32–2 Beginnings of Elementary Particle
Physics—Particle Exchange 922
32–3 Particles and Antiparticles 924
32–4 Particle Interactions and
APPENDICES
Conservation Laws 926 A Mathematical Review A-1
32–5 Neutrinos 928 A-1 Relationships, Proportionality, and Equations A-1
32–6 Particle Classification 930 A-2 Exponents A-2
32–7 Particle Stability and Resonances 932 A-3 Powers of 10, or Exponential Notation A-3
32–8 Strangeness? Charm? A-4 Algebra A-3
Towards a New Model 932 A-5 The Binomial Expansion A-6
32–9 Quarks 933 A-6 Plane Geometry A-7
32–10 The Standard Model: QCD and A-7 Trigonometric Functions and Identities A-8
Electroweak Theory 936 A-8 Logarithms A-10
32–11 Grand Unified Theories 939 B Selected Isotopes A-12
32–12 Strings and Supersymmetry 942
Questions, MisConceptual Questions 943–44 C Rotating Frames of Reference;
Problems, Search and Learn 944–46 Inertial Forces; Coriolis Effect A-16
D Molar Specific Heats for Gases, and
the Equipartition of Energy A-19
E Galilean and Lorentz
Transformations A-22

Answers to Odd-Numbered Problems A-27

Index A-43
Photo Credits A-69

CONTENTS ix
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_x-xi_v3.2HR1.5.QXD 4-03-2015 11:06 Page x

Applications to Biology and Medicine (Selected)

Chapter 4 Humidity and comfort 380 Chapter 24
How we walk 82 Diffusion in living organisms 383 Spectroscopic analysis 693
Chapter 5 Chapter 14 Chapter 25
Weightlessness 124–25 Working off Calories 392 Human eye 719
Chapter 6 Convection by blood 402 Corrective lenses 719–21
Cardiac treadmill 168 Human radiative heat loss 404 Contact lenses 721
Chapter 7 Room comfort and metabolism 404 Seeing under water 721
Body parts, center of mass 186–87 Medical thermography 405 Light microscopes 726
Impulse, don’t break a leg 193 Chapter 15 Resolution of eye 730, 732
Energy in the human body 418–19 X-ray diffraction in biology 735
Chapter 8
Biological evolution, development 430–31 Medical imaging: X-rays, CT 735–37
Bird of prey 200
Centrifuge 204, 222 Trees offset CO2 emission 442 Cones in fovea 740
Torque with muscles 207, 223 Chapter 16 Chapter 27
Chapter 9 Cells: electric forces, kinetic theory 460–62 Electron microscope images:
Teeth straightening 231 DNA structure, replication 460–61 blood vessel, blood clot,
Forces in muscles and joints 238–39, 255 retina, viruses 771, 785–86
Chapter 17
Human body stability 240 Photosynthesis 779
Heart-beat scan (ECG or EKG) 473
Leg stress in fall 259 Measuring bone density 780
Dipoles in molecular biology 482
Chapter 10 Capacitor burn or shock 487 Chapter 28
Pressure in cells 264 Heart defibrillator 487, 559 Laser surgery 823
Blood flow 274, 278, 280 Electrocardiogram (ECG) 493 Chapter 29
Blood loss to brain, TIA 278 Chapter 18 Cell energy—ATP 833–34
Underground animals, air circulation 278 Electrical conduction in the human Weak bonds in cells, DNA 834–35
Blood flow and heart disease 280 nervous system 517–19 Protein synthesis 836–37
Walking on water (insect) 281 Pulse oximeter 848
Chapter 19
Heart as a pump 282 Chapter 31
Blood pressure 283 Blood sugar phone app 526
Pacemaker, ventricular fibrillation 543 Biological radiation damage 899
Blood transfusion 288 Radiation dosimetry 899–903
Electric shock, grounding 544–45
Chapter 11 Radon 901
Spider web 298 Chapter 20 Radiation exposure; film badge 901
Echolocation by animals 309 Blood flow rate 584 Radiation sickness 901
Electromagnetic pump 589 Radon exposure calculation 902–3
Chapter 12
Ear and hearing range 331, 334–35 Chapter 21 Radiation therapy 903
Doppler, blood speed; bat EM blood-flow measurement 596 Proton therapy 904
position 347, 358 Ground fault interrupter (GFCI) 607 Tracers in medicine and biology 904–5
Ultrasound medical imaging 350–51 Pacemaker 608 Medical imaging: PET, SPECT 905–6
Chapter 13 Chapter 22 NMR and MRI 906–8
Life under ice 366–67 Optical tweezers 636 Radiation and thyroid 912
Molecules in a breath 373 Chapter 23 Chapter 32
Evaporation cools 379, 400 Medical endoscopes 660 Linacs and tumor irradiation 920

Applications to Other Fields and Everyday Life (Selected)

Chapter 1 Determining the Sun’s mass 127 Chapter 8
The 8000-m peaks 11 Moon’s orbit, phases, periods, diagram 129 Rotating carnival rides 198, 201, 202
Estimating volume of a lake 13 Simulated gravity 130, 132 Bicycle 205, 227, 229
Height by triangulation 14 Near-Earth orbit 134 Rotating skaters, divers 216
Measuring Earth’s radius 15 Comets 135 Neutron star collapse 217
Chapter 2 Asteroids, moons 135, 136, 196, 228 Strange spinning bike wheel 218
Braking distances 32 Rings of Saturn, galaxy 136 Tightrope walker 220
Rapid transit 47 GPS, Milky Way 136 Hard drive 222
Total solar eclipses 229
Chapter 3 Chapter 6
Sports 49, 58, 67, 68, 69, 73, 74 Work done on a baseball, skiing 138 Chapter 9
Kicked football 62, 64 Car stopping distance r v2 145 Tragic collapse 231, 246
Roller coaster 152, 158 Lever’s mechanical advantage 233
Chapter 4 Cantilever 235
Rocket acceleration 82 Pole vault, high jump 153, 165
Architecture: columns, arches,
What force accelerates car? 82 Stair-climbing power output 159 domes 243, 246–49
Elevator and counterweight 91 Horsepower, car needs 159–61 Fracture 245–46
Mechanical advantage of pulley 92 Lever 164 Concrete, prestressed 246
Skiing 97, 100, 138 Spiderman 167 Tower crane 252
Bear sling 100, 252 Chapter 7 Chapter 10
City planning, cars on hills 105 Billiards 170, 179, 183 Glaciers 260
Chapter 5 Tennis serve 172, 176 Hydraulic lift, brakes, press 265, 286
Not skidding on a curve 116 Rocket propulsion 175, 188–89 Hydrometer 271
Antilock brakes 116 Rifle recoil 176 Continental drift, plate tectonics 272
Banked highways 117 Nuclear collisions 180, 182 Helium balloon lift 272
Artificial Earth satellites 122–23, 134 Ballistic pendulum 181 Airplane wings, dynamic lift 277
Free fall in athletics 125 High jump 187 Sailing against the wind 277
Planets 125–28, 134, 137, 189, 197, 228 Distant planets discovered 189 Baseball curve 278

x
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_x-xi_v3.2HR1.5.QXD 4-03-2015 11:06 Page xi

Smoke up a chimney 278 Digital compression 489 Magnifying and wide-view

Surface tension, capillarity 280–82 CRT, TV and computer monitors 490 mirrors 649, 655, 656
Pumps 282 Flat screens, addressing pixels 491–92 Where you can see yourself in a
Siphon 284, 290 Digital TV, matrix, refresh rate 491–92 concave mirror 654
Hurricane 287 Oscilloscope 492 Optical illusions 657
Reynolds number 288 Photocell 499 Apparent depth in water 658
Chapter 11 Lightning bolt (Pr90, S&L3) 499, 500 Fiber optics in telecommunications 660
Car springs 295 Chapter 18 Where you can see a lens image 663
Unwanted floor vibrations 299 Electric cars 504 Chapter 24
Pendulum clock 302 Resistance thermometer 510 Soap bubbles and
Car shock absorbers, building dampers 303 Heating element 510 oil films 679, 693, 696–97
Child on a swing 304 Why bulbs burn out at turn on 511 Mirages 682
Shattering glass via resonance 304 Lightning bolt 512 Rainbows and diamonds 686
Resonant bridge collapse 304 Household circuits 512–13 Colors underwater 687
Tsunami 306, 327 Fuses, circuit breakers, shorts 512–13 Spectroscopy 692–93
Earthquake waves 309, 311, 318, 324 Extension cord danger 513 Colors in thin soap film, details 696–97
Chapter 12 Hair dryer 515 Lens coatings 697–98
Count distance from lightning 329 Superconductors 517 Polaroids, sunglasses 699–700
Autofocus camera 330 Halogen incandescent lamp 525 LCDs—liquid crystal displays 703–4
Loudspeaker response 332 Strain gauge 525 Sky color, cloud color, sunsets 704
Musical scale 335 Chapter 19 Chapter 25
Stringed instruments 336–37 Car battery charging 536–37 Cameras, digital and film; lenses 713–18
Wind instruments 337–40 Jump start safety 537 Pixel arrays, digital artifacts 714
Tuning with beats 343 RC applications: flashers, wipers 542–43 Pixels, resolution, sharpness 717–18
Doppler: speed, weather Electric safety 543–45 Magnifying glass 713, 722–23
forecasting 347–48 Proper grounding, plugs 544–45 Telescopes 723–25, 730, 731
Sonic boom, sound barrier 349 Leakage current 545 Microscopes 726–27, 730, 731
Sonar: depth finding, Earth soundings 349 Downed power lines 545 Telescope and microscope
Chapter 13 Meters, analog and digital 546–48 resolution, the l rule 730–32
Hot-air balloon 359 Meter connection, corrections 547–48 Radiotelescopes 731
Potentiometers and bridges 556, 559 Specialty microscopes 733
Expansion joints 361, 365, 367
Car battery corrosion 558 X-ray diffraction 733–35
Opening a tight lid 365
Gas tank overflow 366 Digital-to-analog converter 559 Chapter 26
Mass (and weight) of air in a room 371 Chapter 20 Space travel 754
Cold and hot tire pressure 372 Declination, compass 562 Global positioning system (GPS) 755
Temperature dependent chemistry 377 Aurora borealis 569 Chapter 27
Humidity and weather 381 Solenoids and electromagnets 572–73 Photocells, photodiodes 776, 778
Thermostat 384 Solenoid switch: car starter, doorbell 573 Electron microscopes 785–86
Pressure cooker 388 Magnetic circuit breaker 573 Chapter 28
Chapter 14 Motors, loudspeakers 576–77 Neon tubes 803
Effects of water’s high specific heat 393 Mass spectrometer 578 Fluorescence and phosphorescence 820
Thermal windows 401 Relay 582 Lasers and their uses 820–23
How clothes insulate 401, 403 Chapter 21 DVD, CD, bar codes 822–23
R-values of thermal insulation 402 Generators, alternators 597–99 Holography 823–24
Convective home heating 402 Motor overload 599–600 Chapter 29
Astronomy—size of a star 406 Magnetic damping 600, 618 Integrated circuits (chips), 22-nm
Loft of goose down 407 Airport metal detector 601 technology 829, 851
Chapter 15 Transformers, power transmission 601–4 Semiconductor diodes, transistors 845–50
Steam engine 420–21 Cell phone charger 602 Solar cells 847
Internal combustion engine 421 Car ignition 602 LEDs 847–48
Refrigerators 425–26 Electric power transmission 603–4 Diode lasers 848
Air conditioners, heat pump 426–27 Power transfer by induction 604 OLEDs 849–50
SEER rating 427 Information storage 604–6 Transistors 850–51
Thermal pollution, global warming 434 Hard drives, tape, DVD 604–5 Chapter 30
Energy resources 435 Computer DRAM, flash 605–6 Smoke detectors 866
Chapter 16 Microphone, credit card swipe 606 Carbon-14 dating 874–75
Static electricity 443, 444 Seismograph 607 Archeological, geological
Photocopy machines 454, 462 Ground fault interrupter (GFCI) 607 dating 875, 876, 882, 883
Electrical shielding, safety 459 Capacitors as filters 613 Oldest Earth rocks and earliest life 876
Laser printers and inkjet printers 463 Loudspeaker cross-over 613 Chapter 31
Chapter 17 Shielded cable 617 Nuclear reactors and power 891–93
Capacitor uses in backups, surge Sort recycled waste 618 Manhattan Project 893–94
protectors, memory 482, 484 Chapter 22 Fusion energy reactors 896–98
Very high capacitance 484 TV from the Moon 625, 639 Radon gas pollution 901
Condenser microphone 484 Coaxial cable 631 Chapter 32
Computer key 484 Phone call time lag 632 Antimatter 925–26, 941
Camera flash 486–87 Solar sail 636 Chapter 33
Signal and supply voltages 488 Wireless: TV and radio 636–38 Stars and galaxies 947, 948–51
Digital, analog, bits, bytes 488–89 Satellite dish 638 Black holes 956, 962–63
Digital coding 488–89 Cell phones, remotes 639 Big Bang 966, 967–70
Analog-to-digital converter 489, 559 Chapter 23 Evolution of universe 970–73
Sampling rate 488–89 How tall a mirror do you need 648 Dark matter and dark energy 975–77

Applications xi
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_xii_xx_v2.1HR1.6.QXD 7/5/16 4:17 PM Page xii

Student Supplements
• MasteringPhysics™ (www.masteringphysics.com) is a
homework, tutorial, and assessment system based on
years of research into how students work physics problems
and precisely where they need help. Studies show that
students who use MasteringPhysics significantly increase their
final scores compared to hand-written homework. Mastering-
Physics achieves this improvement by providing students
with instantaneous feedback specific to their wrong answers,
simpler sub-problems upon request when they get stuck, and
partial credit for their method(s) used. This individualized,
24/7 Socratic tutoring is recommended by nine out of ten
students to their peers as the most effective and time-efficient
way to study.
• Pearson eText is available through MasteringPhysics. Allow-
ing students access to the text wherever they have access to
the Internet, Pearson eText comprises the full text, including
figures that can be enlarged for better viewing. Within eText,
students are also able to pop up definitions and terms to help
with vocabulary and the reading of the material. Students can
also take notes in eText using the annotation feature at the top
of each page.
• ActivPhysics OnLine™ (accessed through the Self Study area
within www.masteringphysics.com) provides students with a
group of highly regarded applet-based tutorials.

xii
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_xii_xx_v2.1HR1.6.QXD 7/5/16 4:17 PM Page xiii

Preface
What’s New?
Lots! Much is new and unseen before. Here are the big four:
1. Multiple-choice Questions added to the end of each Chapter. They are not the
usual type. These are called MisConceptual Questions because the responses
(a, b, c, d, etc.) are intended to include common student misconceptions.
Thus they are as much, or more, a learning experience than simply a testing
experience.

2. Search and Learn Problems at the very end of each Chapter, after the other
Problems. Some are pretty hard, others are fairly easy. They are intended to
encourage students to go back and reread some part or parts of the text,
and in this search for an answer they will hopefully learn more—if only
because they have to read some material again.

3. Chapter-Opening Questions (COQ) that start each Chapter, a sort of

“stimulant.” Each is multiple choice, with responses including common
misconceptions—to get preconceived notions out on the table right at the
start. Where the relevant material is covered in the text, students find an
Exercise asking them to return to the COQ to rethink and answer again.

4. Digital. Biggest of all. Crucial new applications. Today we are surrounded by

digital electronics. How does it work? If you try to find out, say on the
Internet, you won’t find much physics: you may find shallow hand-waving
with no real content, or some heavy jargon whose basis might take months or
years to understand. So, for the first time, I have tried to explain
• The basis of digital in bits and bytes, how analog gets transformed into
digital, sampling rate, bit depth, quantization error, compression, noise
(Section 17–10).
• How digital TV works, including how each pixel is addressed for each frame,
data stream, refresh rate (Section 17–11).
• Semiconductor computer memory, DRAM, and flash (Section 21–8).
• Digital cameras and sensors—revised and expanded Section 25–1.
• New semiconductor physics, some of which is used in digital devices,
including LED and OLED—how they work and what their uses are—plus
more on transistors (MOSFET), chips, and technology generation as in
22-nm technology (Sections 29–9, 10, 11).

Besides those above, this new seventh edition includes

5. New topics, new applications, principal revisions.
• You can measure the Earth’s radius (Section 1–7).
• Improved graphical analysis of linear motion (Section 2–8).
• Planets (how first seen), heliocentric, geocentric (Section 5–8).
• The Moon’s orbit around the Earth: its phases and periods with diagram
(Section 5–9).
• Explanation of lake level change when large rock thrown from boat
(Example 10–11).

xiii
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_xii_xx_v2.1HR1.6.QXD 7/5/16 4:17 PM Page xiv

• Biology and medicine, including:

• Blood measurements (flow, sugar)—Chapters 10, 12, 14, 19, 20, 21;
• Trees help offset CO2 buildup—Chapter 15;
• Pulse oximeter—Chapter 29;
• Proton therapy—Chapter 31;
• Radon exposure calculation—Chapter 31;
• Cell phone use and brain—Chapter 31.
• Colors as seen underwater (Section 24–4).
• Soap film sequence of colors explained (Section 24–8).
• Solar sails (Section 22–6).
• Lots on sports.
• Symmetry—more emphasis and using italics or boldface to make visible.
• Flat screens (Sections 17–11, 24–11).
• Free-electron theory of metals, Fermi gas, Fermi level. New Section 29–6.
• Semiconductor devices—new details on diodes, LEDs, OLEDs, solar cells,
compound semiconductors, diode lasers, MOSFET transistors, chips, 22-nm
technology (Sections 29–9, 10, 11).
• Cross section (Chapter 31).
• Length of an object is a script l rather than normal l, which looks like 1 or
I (moment of inertia, current), as in F = IlB. Capital L is for angular
momentum, latent heat, inductance, dimensions of length [L].
6. New photographs taken by students and instructors (we asked).
7. Page layout: More than in previous editions, serious attention to how each
page is formatted. Important derivations and Examples are on facing pages:
no turning a page back in the middle of a derivation or Example. Throughout,
readers see, on two facing pages, an important slice of physics.
8. Greater clarity: No topic, no paragraph in this book was overlooked in the
search to improve the clarity and conciseness of the presentation. Phrases
and sentences that may slow down the principal argument have been
eliminated: keep to the essentials at first, give the elaborations later.
9. Much use has been made of physics education research. See the new
powerful pedagogic features listed first.
10. Examples modified: More math steps are spelled out, and many new
Examples added. About 10% of all Examples are Estimation Examples.
11. This Book is Shorter than other complete full-service books at this level.
Shorter explanations are easier to understand and more likely to be read.
12. Cosmological Revolution: With generous help from top experts in the field,
readers have the latest results.

See the World through Eyes that Know Physics

I was motivated from the beginning to write a textbook different from the others
which present physics as a sequence of facts, like a catalog: “Here are the facts
and you better learn them.” Instead of beginning formally and dogmatically,
I have sought to begin each topic with concrete observations and experiences
students can relate to: start with specifics, and after go to the great generalizations
and the more formal aspects of a topic, showing why we believe what we believe.
This approach reflects how science is actually practiced.

xiv PREFACE
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_xii_xx_v2.1HR1.6.QXD 7/5/16 4:17 PM Page xv

The ultimate aim is to give students a thorough understanding of the basic

concepts of physics in all its aspects, from mechanics to modern physics. A second
objective is to show students how useful physics is in their own everyday lives and
in their future professions by means of interesting applications to biology, medicine,
architecture, and more.
Also, much effort has gone into techniques and approaches for solving
problems: worked-out Examples, Problem Solving sections (Sections 2–6, 3–6,
4–7, 4–8, 6–7, 6–9, 8–6, 9–2, 13–7, 14–4, and 16–6), and Problem Solving
Strategies (pages 30, 57, 60, 88, 115, 141, 158, 184, 211, 234, 399, 436, 456, 534,
568, 594, 655, 666, and 697).
This textbook is especially suited for students taking a one-year introduc-
tory course in physics that uses algebra and trigonometry but not calculus.†
Many of these students are majoring in biology or premed, as well as architecture,
technology, and the earth and environmental sciences. Many applications to
these fields are intended to answer that common student query: “Why must I study
physics?” The answer is that physics is fundamental to a full understanding of
these fields, and here they can see how. Physics is everywhere around us in the
everyday world. It is the goal of this book to help students “see the world through
eyes that know physics.”
A major effort has been made to not throw too much material at students
reading the first few chapters. The basics have to be learned first. Many aspects can
come later, when students are less overloaded and more prepared. If we don’t
overwhelm students with too much detail, especially at the start, maybe they can
find physics interesting, fun, and helpful—and those who were afraid may lose
their fear.
Chapter 1 is not a throwaway. It is fundamental to physics to realize that every
measurement has an uncertainty, and how significant figures are used. Converting
units and being able to make rapid estimates are also basic.
Mathematics can be an obstacle to students. I have aimed at including all steps
in a derivation. Important mathematical tools, such as addition of vectors and
trigonometry, are incorporated in the text where first needed, so they come with
a context rather than in a scary introductory Chapter. Appendices contain a review
of algebra and geometry (plus a few advanced topics).
Color is used pedagogically to bring out the physics. Different types of vectors
are given different colors (see the chart on page xix).
Sections marked with a star * are considered optional. These contain slightly
more advanced physics material, or material not usually covered in typical
courses and/or interesting applications; they contain no material needed in later
Chapters (except perhaps in later optional Sections).
For a brief course, all optional material could be dropped as well as significant
parts of Chapters 1, 10, 12, 22, 28, 29, 32, and selected parts of Chapters 7, 8, 9,
15, 21, 24, 25, 31. Topics not covered in class can be a valuable resource for later
study by students. Indeed, this text can serve as a useful reference for years because
of its wide range of coverage.

†
It is fine to take a calculus course. But mixing calculus with physics for these students may often
mean not learning the physics because of stumbling over the calculus.

PREFACE xv
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_xii_xx_v2.1HR1.6.QXD 7/5/16 4:17 PM Page xvi
Thanks
Many physics professors provided input or direct feedback on every aspect of this
textbook. They are listed below, and I owe each a debt of gratitude.
Edward Adelson, The Ohio State University
Lorraine Allen, United States Coast Guard Academy
Zaven Altounian, McGill University
Leon Amstutz, Taylor University
David T. Bannon, Oregon State University
Bruce Barnett, Johns Hopkins University
Michael Barnett, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
Anand Batra, Howard University
Cornelius Bennhold, George Washington University
Bruce Birkett, University of California Berkeley
Steven Boggs, University of California Berkeley
Robert Boivin, Auburn University
Subir Bose, University of Central Florida
David Branning, Trinity College
Meade Brooks, Collin County Community College
Bruce Bunker, University of Notre Dame
Grant Bunker, Illinois Institute of Technology
Wayne Carr, Stevens Institute of Technology
Charles Chiu, University of Texas Austin
Roger N. Clark, U. S. Geological Survey
Russell Clark, University of Pittsburgh
Robert Coakley, University of Southern Maine
David Curott, University of North Alabama
Biman Das, SUNY Potsdam
Bob Davis, Taylor University
Kaushik De, University of Texas Arlington
Michael Dennin, University of California Irvine
Karim Diff, Santa Fe College
Kathy Dimiduk, Cornell University
John DiNardo, Drexel University
Scott Dudley, United States Air Force Academy
Paul Dyke
John Essick, Reed College
Kim Farah, Lasell College
Cassandra Fesen, Dartmouth College
Leonard Finegold, Drexel University
Alex Filippenko, University of California Berkeley
Richard Firestone, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
Allen Flora, Hood College
Mike Fortner, Northern Illinois University
Tom Furtak, Colorado School of Mines
Edward Gibson, California State University Sacramento
John Hardy, Texas A&M
Thomas Hemmick, State University of New York Stonybrook
J. Erik Hendrickson, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
Laurent Hodges, Iowa State University
David Hogg, New York University
Mark Hollabaugh, Normandale Community College
Andy Hollerman, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Russell Holmes, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
William Holzapfel, University of California Berkeley
Chenming Hu, University of California Berkeley
Bob Jacobsen, University of California Berkeley
Arthur W. John, Northeastern University
Teruki Kamon, Texas A&M
Daryao Khatri, University of the District of Columbia
Tsu-Jae King Liu, University of California Berkeley
Richard Kronenfeld, South Mountain Community College
Jay Kunze, Idaho State University
Jim LaBelle, Dartmouth College
Amer Lahamer, Berea College
David Lamp, Texas Tech University
Kevin Lear, SpatialGraphics.com
Ran Li, Kent State University
Andreí Linde, Stanford University
M.A.K. Lodhi, Texas Tech
Lisa Madewell, University of Wisconsin
xvi PREFACE
Bruce Mason, University of Oklahoma
Mark Mattson, James Madison University
Dan Mazilu, Washington and Lee University
Linda McDonald, North Park College
Bill McNairy, Duke University
Jo Ann Merrell, Saddleback College
Raj Mohanty, Boston University
Giuseppe Molesini, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Florence
Wouter Montfrooij, University of Missouri
Eric Moore, Frostburg State University
Lisa K. Morris, Washington State University
Richard Muller, University of California Berkeley
Blaine Norum, University of Virginia
Lauren Novatne, Reedley College
Alexandria Oakes, Eastern Michigan University
Ralph Oberly, Marshall University
Michael Ottinger, Missouri Western State University
Lyman Page, Princeton and WMAP
Laurence Palmer, University of Maryland
Bruce Partridge, Haverford College
R. Daryl Pedigo, University of Washington
Robert Pelcovitz, Brown University
Saul Perlmutter, University of California Berkeley
Vahe Peroomian, UCLA
Harvey Picker, Trinity College
Amy Pope, Clemson University
James Rabchuk, Western Illinois University
Michele Rallis, Ohio State University
Paul Richards, University of California Berkeley
Peter Riley, University of Texas Austin
Dennis Rioux, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
John Rollino, Rutgers University
Larry Rowan, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Arthur Schmidt, Northwestern University
Cindy Schwarz-Rachmilowitz, Vassar College
Peter Sheldon, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College
Natalia A. Sidorovskaia, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
James Siegrist, University of California Berkeley
Christopher Sirola, University of Southern Mississippi
Earl Skelton, Georgetown University
George Smoot, University of California Berkeley
David Snoke, University of Pittsburgh
Stanley Sobolewski, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Mark Sprague, East Carolina University
Michael Strauss, University of Oklahoma
Laszlo Takac, University of Maryland Baltimore Co.
Leo Takahashi, Pennsylvania State University
Richard Taylor, University of Oregon
Oswald Tekyi-Mensah, Alabama State University
Franklin D. Trumpy, Des Moines Area Community College
Ray Turner, Clemson University
Som Tyagi, Drexel University
David Vakil, El Camino College
Trina VanAusdal, Salt Lake Community College
John Vasut, Baylor University
Robert Webb, Texas A&M
Robert Weidman, Michigan Technological University
Edward A. Whittaker, Stevens Institute of Technology
Lisa M. Will, San Diego City College
Suzanne Willis, Northern Illinois University
John Wolbeck, Orange County Community College
Stanley George Wojcicki, Stanford University
Mark Worthy, Mississippi State University
Edward Wright, UCLA and WMAP
Todd Young, Wayne State College
William Younger, College of the Albemarle
Hsiao-Ling Zhou, Georgia State University
Michael Ziegler, The Ohio State University
Ulrich Zurcher, Cleveland State University
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_xii_xx_v2.1HR1.6.QXD 7/5/16 4:17 PM Page xvii

New photographs were offered by Professors Vickie Frohne (Holy Cross Coll.),
Guillermo Gonzales (Grove City Coll.), Martin Hackworth (Idaho State U.),
Walter H. G. Lewin (MIT), Nicholas Murgo (NEIT), Melissa Vigil (Marquette U.),
Brian Woodahl (Indiana U. at Indianapolis), and Gary Wysin (Kansas State U.).
New photographs shot by students are from the AAPT photo contest: Matt
Buck, (John Burroughs School), Matthew Claspill (Helias H. S.), Greg Gentile
(West Forsyth H. S.), Shilpa Hampole (Notre Dame H. S.), Sarah Lampen (John
Burroughs School), Mrinalini Modak (Fayetteville–Manlius H. S.), Joey Moro
(Ithaca H. S.), and Anna Russell and Annacy Wilson (both Tamalpais H. S.).
I owe special thanks to Prof. Bob Davis for much valuable input, and especially
for working out all the Problems and producing the Solutions Manual for all
Problems, as well as for providing the answers to odd-numbered Problems at the
back of the book. Many thanks also to J. Erik Hendrickson who collaborated with
Bob Davis on the solutions, and to the team they managed (Profs. Karim Diff,
Thomas Hemmick, Lauren Novatne, Michael Ottinger, and Trina VanAusdal).
I am grateful to Profs. Lorraine Allen, David Bannon, Robert Coakley, Kathy
Dimiduk, John Essick, Dan Mazilu, John Rollino, Cindy Schwarz, Earl Skelton,
Michael Strauss, Ray Turner, Suzanne Willis, and Todd Young, who helped with
developing the new MisConceptual Questions and Search and Learn Problems,
and offered other significant clarifications.
Crucial for rooting out errors, as well as providing excellent suggestions, were
Profs. Lorraine Allen, Kathy Dimiduk, Michael Strauss, Ray Turner, and David
Vakil. A huge thank you to them and to Prof. Giuseppe Molesini for his sugges-
tions and his exceptional photographs for optics.
For Chapters 32 and 33 on Particle Physics and Cosmology and Astrophysics,
I was fortunate to receive generous input from some of the top experts in the field,
to whom I owe a debt of gratitude: Saul Perlmutter, George Smoot, Richard
Muller, Steven Boggs, Alex Filippenko, Paul Richards, James Siegrist, and William
Holzapfel (UC Berkeley), Andreí Linde (Stanford U.), Lyman Page (Princeton
and WMAP), Edward Wright (UCLA and WMAP), Michael Strauss (University
of Oklahoma), Michael Barnett (LBNL), and Bob Jacobsen (UC Berkeley; so
helpful in many areas, including digital and pedagogy).
I also wish to thank Profs. Howard Shugart, Chair Frances Hellman, and many
others at the University of California, Berkeley, Physics Department for helpful
discussions, and for hospitality. Thanks also to Profs. Tito Arecchi, Giuseppe
Molesini, and Riccardo Meucci at the Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Florence, Italy.
Finally, I am grateful to the many people at Pearson Education with whom I
worked on this project, especially Paul Corey and the ever-perspicacious Karen
Karlin.
The final responsibility for all errors lies with me. I welcome comments, correc-
tions, and suggestions as soon as possible to benefit students for the next reprint.
email: Jim.Smith@Pearson.com D.C.G.
Post: Jim Smith
1301 Sansome Street
San Francisco, CA 94111

About the Author

Douglas C. Giancoli obtained his BA in physics (summa cum laude) from UC
Berkeley, his MS in physics at MIT, and his PhD in elementary particle physics back
at UC Berkeley. He spent 2 years as a post-doctoral fellow at UC Berkeley’s Virus
lab developing skills in molecular biology and biophysics. His mentors include
Nobel winners Emilio Segrè and Donald Glaser.
He has taught a wide range of undergraduate courses, traditional as well as
innovative ones, and continues to update his textbooks meticulously, seeking
ways to better provide an understanding of physics for students.
Doug’s favorite spare-time activity is the outdoors, especially climbing peaks.
He says climbing peaks is like learning physics: it takes effort and the rewards are
great.
xvii
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_xii_xx_v2.1HR1.6.QXD 7/5/16 4:17 PM Page xviii

To Students
HOW TO STUDY
1. Read the Chapter. Learn new vocabulary and notation. Try to respond to
questions and exercises as they occur.
2. Attend all class meetings. Listen. Take notes, especially about aspects you do not
remember seeing in the book. Ask questions (everyone wants to, but maybe you
will have the courage). You will get more out of class if you read the Chapter first.
3. Read the Chapter again, paying attention to details. Follow derivations and
worked-out Examples. Absorb their logic. Answer Exercises and as many of
the end-of-Chapter Questions as you can, and all MisConceptual Questions.
4. Solve at least 10 to 20 end of Chapter Problems, especially those assigned. In
doing Problems you find out what you learned and what you didn’t. Discuss
them with other students. Problem solving is one of the great learning tools.
Don’t just look for a formula—it might be the wrong one.
NOTES ON THE FORMAT AND PROBLEM SOLVING
1. Sections marked with a star (*) are considered optional. They can be omitted
without interrupting the main flow of topics. No later material depends on
them except possibly later starred Sections. They may be fun to read, though.
2. The customary conventions are used: symbols for quantities (such as m for
mass) are italicized, whereas units (such as m for meter) are not italicized.
B
Symbols for vectors are shown in boldface with a small arrow above: F.
3. Few equations are valid in all situations. Where practical, the limitations of
important equations are stated in square brackets next to the equation. The
equations that represent the great laws of physics are displayed with a tan
background, as are a few other indispensable equations.
4. At the end of each Chapter is a set of Questions you should try to answer.
Attempt all the multiple-choice MisConceptual Questions. Most important
are Problems which are ranked as Level I, II, or III, according to estimated
difficulty. Level I Problems are easiest, Level II are standard Problems, and
Level III are “challenge problems.” These ranked Problems are arranged by
Section, but Problems for a given Section may depend on earlier material
too. There follows a group of General Problems, not arranged by Section or
ranked. Problems that relate to optional Sections are starred (*). Answers to
odd-numbered Problems are given at the end of the book. Search and Learn
Problems at the end are meant to encourage you to return to parts of the text
to find needed detail, and at the same time help you to learn.
5. Being able to solve Problems is a crucial part of learning physics, and provides
a powerful means for understanding the concepts and principles. This book
contains many aids to problem solving: (a) worked-out Examples, including
an Approach and Solution, which should be studied as an integral part of
the text; (b) some of the worked-out Examples are Estimation Examples,
which show how rough or approximate results can be obtained even if
the given data are sparse (see Section 1–7); (c) Problem Solving Strategies
placed throughout the text to suggest a step-by-step approach to problem
solving for a particular topic—but remember that the basics remain the
same; most of these “Strategies” are followed by an Example that is solved
by explicitly following the suggested steps; (d) special problem-solving
Sections; (e) “Problem Solving” marginal notes which refer to hints within
the text for solving Problems; (f) Exercises within the text that you should
work out immediately, and then check your response against the answer
given at the bottom of the last page of that Chapter; (g) the Problems them-
selves at the end of each Chapter (point 4 above).
6. Conceptual Examples pose a question which hopefully starts you to think
and come up with a response. Give yourself a little time to come up with
your own response before reading the Response given.
7. Math review, plus additional topics, are found in Appendices. Useful data, con-
xviii PREFACE version factors, and math formulas are found inside the front and back covers.
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_xii_xx_v2.1HR1.6.QXD 7/5/16 4:17 PM Page xix

USE OF COLOR

Vectors
A general vector
resultant vector (sum) is slightly thicker
components of any vector are dashed
B
Displacement (D, Br )
Velocity (vB)
B
Acceleration (a )
B
Force ( F )
Force on second object
or third object in same figure
B
Momentum (p or m vB)
B
Angular momentum ( L)
Angular velocity (VB)
Torque (T
B
)
B
Electric field ( E)
B
Magnetic field ( B)

Electricity and magnetism Electric circuit symbols

Electric field lines Wire, with switch S
S
Equipotential lines Resistor

Magnetic field lines Capacitor

Electric charge (+) + or + Inductor

Electric charge (–) – or – Battery

Ground

Optics Other
Light rays Energy level
Object (atom, etc.)
Measurement lines 1.0 m
Real image
(dashed) Path of a moving
object
Virtual image Direction of motion
(dashed and paler) or current

PREFACE xix
GIAN_PPA7_GE_FM_xii_xx_v2.1HR1.6.QXD 7/5/16 4:17 PM Page xx

This page is intentionally left blank.

GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD 29-08-2014 14:01 Page 1

Image of the Earth from a NASA satellite.

The sky appears black from out in space
because there are so few molecules
to reflect light. (Why the sky
appears blue to us on
Earth has to do with
scattering of light by
molecules of the
atmosphere, as
discussed in
Chapter 24.)
Note the
storm off
the coast
of Mexico.

A P T E
H

1 R
C

Introduction,
Measurement, Estimating
CHAPTER-OPENING QUESTIONS—Guess now! CONTENTS
1. How many cm3 are in 1.0 m3? 1–1 The Nature of Science
(a) 10. (b) 100. (c) 1000. (d) 10,000. (e) 100,000. (f) 1,000,000. 1–2 Physics and its Relation to
Other Fields
2. Suppose you wanted to actually measure the radius of the Earth, at least
1–3 Models, Theories, and Laws
roughly, rather than taking other people’s word for what it is. Which response
1–4 Measurement and Uncertainty;
below describes the best approach? Significant Figures
(a) Use an extremely long measuring tape. 1–5 Units, Standards, and
(b) It is only possible by flying high enough to see the actual curvature of the Earth. the SI System
(c) Use a standard measuring tape, a step ladder, and a large smooth lake. 1–6 Converting Units
(d) Use a laser and a mirror on the Moon or on a satellite. 1–7 Order of Magnitude:
(e) Give up; it is impossible using ordinary means. Rapid Estimating
*1–8 Dimensions and Dimensional
[We start each Chapter with a Question—sometimes two. Try to answer right away. Don’t worry about
Analysis
getting the right answer now—the idea is to get your preconceived notions out on the table. If they
are misconceptions, we expect them to be cleared up as you read the Chapter. You will usually get
another chance at the Question(s) later in the Chapter when the appropriate material has been covered.
These Chapter-Opening Questions will also help you see the power and usefulness of physics.]
1
GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD 29-08-2014 14:01 Page 2

P
hysics is the most basic of the sciences. It deals with the behavior and
structure of matter. The field of physics is usually divided into classical
physics which includes motion, fluids, heat, sound, light, electricity, and
magnetism; and modern physics which includes the topics of relativity, atomic
structure, quantum theory, condensed matter, nuclear physics, elementary particles, and
cosmology and astrophysics. We will cover all these topics in this book, beginning
with motion (or mechanics, as it is often called) and ending with the most recent
results in fundamental particles and the cosmos. But before we begin on the
physics itself, we take a brief look at how this overall activity called “science,”
including physics, is actually practiced.

1–1 The Nature of Science

The principal aim of all sciences, including physics, is generally considered to be
the search for order in our observations of the world around us. Many people
think that science is a mechanical process of collecting facts and devising
theories. But it is not so simple. Science is a creative activity that in many
respects resembles other creative activities of the human mind.
One important aspect of science is observation of events, which includes
the design and carrying out of experiments. But observation and experiments
require imagination, because scientists can never include everything in a
description of what they observe. Hence, scientists must make judgments about
what is relevant in their observations and experiments.
Consider, for example, how two great minds, Aristotle (384–322 B.C.;
Fig. 1–1) and Galileo (1564–1642; Fig. 2–18), interpreted motion along a hori-
zontal surface. Aristotle noted that objects given an initial push along the ground
(or on a tabletop) always slow down and stop. Consequently, Aristotle argued,
the natural state of an object is to be at rest. Galileo, the first true experimen-
talist, reexamined horizontal motion in the 1600s. He imagined that if friction
could be eliminated, an object given an initial push along a horizontal surface
would continue to move indefinitely without stopping. He concluded that for an
object to be in motion was just as natural as for it to be at rest. By inventing a
new way of thinking about the same data, Galileo founded our modern view of
motion (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), and he did so with a leap of the imagination.
Galileo made this leap conceptually, without actually eliminating friction.

FIGURE 1;1 Aristotle is the central

figure (dressed in blue) at the top of
the stairs (the figure next to him is
Plato) in this famous Renaissance
portrayal of The School of Athens,
painted by Raphael around 1510.
Also in this painting, considered
one of the great masterpieces in art,
are Euclid (drawing a circle at the
lower right), Ptolemy (extreme
right with globe), Pythagoras,
Socrates, and Diogenes.

2 CHAPTER 1 Introduction, Measurement, Estimating

GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD 29-08-2014 14:01 Page 3

Observation, with careful experimentation and measurement, is one side of

the scientific process. The other side is the invention or creation of theories to
explain and order the observations. Theories are never derived directly from
observations. Observations may help inspire a theory, and theories are accepted
or rejected based on the results of observation and experiment.
Theories are inspirations that come from the minds of human beings. For
example, the idea that matter is made up of atoms (the atomic theory) was not
arrived at by direct observation of atoms—we can’t see atoms directly. Rather,
the idea sprang from creative minds. The theory of relativity, the electromag-
netic theory of light, and Newton’s law of universal gravitation were likewise
the result of human imagination.
The great theories of science may be compared, as creative achievements,
with great works of art or literature. But how does science differ from these
other creative activities? One important difference is that science requires
testing of its ideas or theories to see if their predictions are borne out by exper-
iment. But theories are not “proved” by testing. First of all, no measuring
instrument is perfect, so exact confirmation is not possible. Furthermore, it is
not possible to test a theory for every possible set of circumstances. Hence a
theory cannot be absolutely verified. Indeed, the history of science tells us that
long-held theories can sometimes be replaced by new ones, particularly when
new experimental techniques provide new or contradictory data.
A new theory is accepted by scientists in some cases because its predictions
are quantitatively in better agreement with experiment than those of the older
theory. But in many cases, a new theory is accepted only if it explains a greater
range of phenomena than does the older one. Copernicus’s Sun-centered theory
of the universe (Fig. 1–2b), for example, was originally no more accurate than
Ptolemy’s Earth-centered theory (Fig. 1–2a) for predicting the motion of heav-
enly bodies (Sun, Moon, planets). But Copernicus’s theory had consequences
that Ptolemy’s did not, such as predicting the moonlike phases of Venus. A
simpler and richer theory, one which unifies and explains a greater variety of
phenomena, is more useful and beautiful to a scientist. And this aspect, as well
as quantitative agreement, plays a major role in the acceptance of a theory.

FIGURE 1;2 (a) Ptolemy’s geocentric view of the universe. Note at the center the four elements of the
ancients: Earth, water, air (clouds around the Earth), and fire; then the circles, with symbols, for the Moon,
Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the fixed stars, and the signs of the zodiac. (b) An early
representation of Copernicus’s heliocentric view of the universe with the Sun at the center. (See Chapter 5.)

(a) (b)

SECTION 1–1 The Nature of Science 3

GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD
FIGURE 1;3 Studies on the forces
in structures by Leonardo da Vinci
(1452–1519).
FIGURE 1;4 (a) This bridge over the River Tiber in Rome was built 2000 years ago and still stands.
(b) The 2007 collapse of a Mississippi River highway bridge built only 40 years before.
(a)
4 CHAPTER 1 Introduction, Measurement, Estimating
29-08-2014 14:01 Page 4
An important aspect of any theory is how well it can quantitatively predict
phenomena, and from this point of view a new theory may often seem to be only
a minor advance over the old one. For example, Einstein’s theory of relativity
gives predictions that differ very little from the older theories of Galileo and
Newton in nearly all everyday situations. Its predictions are better mainly in the
extreme case of very high speeds close to the speed of light. But quantitative
prediction is not the only important outcome of a theory. Our view of the world
is affected as well. As a result of Einstein’s theory of relativity, for example, our
concepts of space and time have been completely altered, and we have come to
see mass and energy as a single entity (via the famous equation E = mc2).
1–2 Physics and its Relation to
Other Fields
For a long time science was more or less a united whole known as natural
philosophy. Not until a century or two ago did the distinctions between physics
and chemistry and even the life sciences become prominent. Indeed, the sharp
distinction we now see between the arts and the sciences is itself only a few
centuries old. It is no wonder then that the development of physics has both
influenced and been influenced by other fields. For example, the notebooks
(Fig. 1–3) of Leonardo da Vinci, the great Renaissance artist, researcher, and
engineer, contain the first references to the forces acting within a structure, a
subject we consider as physics today; but then, as now, it has great relevance to
architecture and building.
Early work in electricity that led to the discovery of the electric battery and
electric current was done by an eighteenth-century physiologist, Luigi Galvani
(1737–1798). He noticed the twitching of frogs’ legs in response to an electric spark
and later that the muscles twitched when in contact with two dissimilar metals
(Chapter 18). At first this phenomenon was known as “animal electricity,” but it
shortly became clear that electric current itself could exist in the absence of an animal.
Physics is used in many fields. A zoologist, for example, may find physics useful
in understanding how prairie dogs and other animals can live underground without
suffocating. A physical therapist will be more effective if aware of the principles
of center of gravity and the action of forces within the human body. A know-
ledge of the operating principles of optical and electronic equipment is helpful in a
variety of fields. Life scientists and architects alike will be interested in the nature
of heat loss and gain in human beings and the resulting comfort or discomfort.
Architects may have to calculate the dimensions of the pipes in a heating system
or the forces involved in a given structure to determine if it will remain standing
(Fig. 1–4). They must know physics principles in order to make realistic designs
and to communicate effectively with engineering consultants and other specialists.
(b)
GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD 29-08-2014 14:01 Page 5

From the aesthetic or psychological point of view, too, architects must be

aware of the forces involved in a structure—for example instability, even if only
illusory, can be discomforting to those who must live or work in the structure.
The list of ways in which physics relates to other fields is extensive. In the
Chapters that follow we will discuss many such applications as we carry out our
principal aim of explaining basic physics.

1–3 Models, Theories, and Laws

When scientists are trying to understand a particular set of phenomena, they often
make use of a model. A model, in the scientific sense, is a kind of analogy or
mental image of the phenomena in terms of something else we are already familiar
with. One example is the wave model of light. We cannot see waves of light as we
can water waves. But it is valuable to think of light as made up of waves, because
experiments indicate that light behaves in many respects as water waves do.
The purpose of a model is to give us an approximate mental or visual
picture—something to hold on to—when we cannot see what actually is
happening. Models often give us a deeper understanding: the analogy to a known
system (for instance, the water waves above) can suggest new experiments to
perform and can provide ideas about what other related phenomena might
occur.
You may wonder what the difference is between a theory and a model.
Usually a model is relatively simple and provides a structural similarity to the
phenomena being studied. A theory is broader, more detailed, and can give
quantitatively testable predictions, often with great precision. It is important, how-
ever, not to confuse a model or a theory with the real system or the phenomena
themselves.
Scientists have given the title law to certain concise but general statements
about how nature behaves (that electric charge is conserved, for example).
Often the statement takes the form of a relationship or equation between
quantities (such as Newton’s second law, F = ma).
Statements that we call laws are usually experimentally valid over a wide
range of observed phenomena. For less general statements, the term principle
is often used (such as Archimedes’ principle). We use “theory” for a more
general picture of the phenomena dealt with.
Scientific laws are different from political laws in that the latter are prescrip-
tive: they tell us how we ought to behave. Scientific laws are descriptive: they do
not say how nature should behave, but rather are meant to describe how nature
does behave. As with theories, laws cannot be tested in the infinite variety of
cases possible. So we cannot be sure that any law is absolutely true. We use the
term “law” when its validity has been tested over a wide range of cases, and
when any limitations and the range of validity are clearly understood.
Scientists normally do their research as if the accepted laws and theories
were true. But they are obliged to keep an open mind in case new information
should alter the validity of any given law or theory.

1–4 Measurement and Uncertainty;

Significant Figures
In the quest to understand the world around us, scientists seek to find relation-
ships among physical quantities that can be measured.

Uncertainty
Reliable measurements are an important part of physics. But no measurement is
absolutely precise. There is an uncertainty associated with every measurement.

SECTION 1–4 Measurement and Uncertainty; Significant Figures 5

GIAN_PPA7_01_AP_001-020v8.1HR1.1.1.QXD
FIGURE 1;5 Measuring the width
of a board with a centimeter ruler.
Accuracy is about & 1 mm.
6 CHAPTER 1 Introduction, Measurement, Estimating
6/27/16 1:05 PM Page 6
Among the most important sources of uncertainty, other than blunders, are the
limited accuracy of every measuring instrument and the inability to read an
instrument beyond some fraction of the smallest division shown. For example,
if you were to use a centimeter ruler to measure the width of a board (Fig. 1–5),
the result could be claimed to be precise to about 0.1 cm (1 mm), the smallest
division on the ruler, although half of this value might be a valid claim as well.
The reason is that it is difficult for the observer to estimate (or “interpolate”)
between the smallest divisions. Furthermore, the ruler itself may not have been
manufactured to an accuracy very much better than this.
When giving the result of a measurement, it is important to state the
estimated uncertainty in the measurement. For example, the width of a board
might be written as 8.860.1 cm. The &0.1 cm (“plus or minus 0.1 cm”) repre-
sents the estimated uncertainty in the measurement, so that the actual width
most likely lies between 8.7 and 8.9 cm. The percent uncertainty is the ratio of
the uncertainty to the measured value, multiplied by 100. For example, if the
measurement is 8.8 cm and the uncertainty about 0.1 cm, the percent uncertainty is
0.1
* 100% L 1%,
8.8
where L means “is approximately equal to.”
Often the uncertainty in a measured value is not specified explicitly. In such
cases, the
uncertainty in a numerical value is assumed to be one or a few units in the
last digit specified.
For example, if a length is given as 8.8 cm, the uncertainty is assumed to be
about 0.1 cm or 0.2 cm, or possibly even 0.3 cm. It is important in this case that
you do not write 8.80 cm, because this implies an uncertainty on the order of
0.01 cm; it assumes that the length is probably between about 8.79 cm and
8.81 cm, when actually you believe it is between about 8.7 and 8.9 cm.
CONCEPTUAL EXAMPLE 1;1 Is the diamond yours? A friend asks to
borrow your precious diamond for a day to show her family. You are a bit
worried, so you carefully have your diamond weighed on a scale which reads
8.17 grams. The scale’s accuracy is claimed to be &0.05 gram. The next day you
weigh the returned diamond again, getting 8.09 grams. Is this your diamond?
RESPONSE The scale readings are measurements and are not perfect. They
do not necessarily give the “true” value of the mass. Each measurement could
have been high or low by up to 0.05 gram or so. The actual mass of your
diamond lies most likely between 8.12 grams and 8.22 grams. The actual mass
of the returned diamond is most likely between 8.04 grams and 8.14 grams.
These two ranges overlap, so the data do not give you a strong reason to
doubt that the returned diamond is yours.
Significant Figures
The number of reliably known digits in a number is called the number of
significant figures. Thus there are four significant figures in the number 23.21 cm
and two in the number 0.062 cm (the zeros in the latter are merely place holders
that show where the decimal point goes). The number of significant figures may not
always be clear. Take, for example, the number 80. Are there one or two signifi-
cant figures? We need words here: If we say it is roughly 80 km between two
cities, there is only one significant figure (the 8) since the zero is merely a place
holder. If there is no suggestion that the 80 is a rough approximation, then we
can often assume (as we will in this book) that it has 2 significant figures: so it is
80 km within an accuracy of about 1 or 2 km. If it is precisely 80 km, to within
&0.1 or &0.2 km, then we write 80.0 km (three significant figures).
GIAN_PPA7_01_AP_001-020v8.1HR1.1.1.QXD 6/27/16 1:07 PM Page 7

When specifying numerical results, you should avoid the temptation to keep
more digits in the final answer than is justified: see boldface statement on previous
page. For example, to calculate the area of a rectangle 11.3 cm by 6.8 cm, the result of
multiplication would be 76.84 cm2. But this answer can not be accurate to the implied
0.01 cm2 uncertainty, because (using the outer limits of the assumed uncertainty for
each measurement) the result could be between 11.2 cm * 6.7 cm = 75.04 cm2 and
11.4 cm * 6.9 cm = 78.66 cm2. At best, we can quote the answer as 77 cm2, which
implies an uncertainty of about 1 or 2 cm2. The other two digits (in the number
76.84 cm2) must be dropped (rounded off) because they are not significant. As a
rough general “significant figure” rule we can say that
the final result of a multiplication or division should have no more digits than
the numerical value with the fewest significant figures.
In our example, 6.8 cm has the least number of significant figures, namely two. Thus
the result 76.84 cm2 needs to be rounded off to 77 cm2.
EXERCISE A The area of a rectangle 4.5 cm by 3.25 cm is correctly given by (a) 14.625 cm2;
(b) 14.63 cm2; (c) 14.6 cm2; (d) 15 cm2. (a)

When adding or subtracting numbers, the final result should contain no more
decimal places than the number with the fewest decimal places. For example, the
result of subtracting 0.57 from 3.6 is 3.0 (not 3.03). Similarly 36 + 8.2 = 44, not 44.2.
Be careful not to confuse significant figures with the number of decimal places.
EXERCISE B For each of the following numbers, state the number of significant
figures and the number of decimal places: (a) 1.23; (b) 0.123; (c) 0.0123.
Keep in mind when you use a calculator that all the digits it produces may (b)
not be significant. When you divide 2.0 by 3.0, the proper answer is 0.67, and FIGURE 1;6 These two calculations
show the wrong number of significant
not 0.666666666 as calculators give (Fig. 1–6a). Digits should not be quoted in a
figures. In (a), 2.0 was divided by 3.0.
result unless they are truly significant figures. However, to obtain the most
The correct final result would be
accurate result, you should normally keep one or more extra significant figures 0.67. In (b), 2.5 was multiplied by 3.2.
throughout a calculation, and round off only in the final result. (With a calcu- The correct result is 8.0.
lator, you can keep all its digits in intermediate results.) Note also that
calculators sometimes give too few significant figures. For example, when you P R O B L E M S O LV I N G
multiply 2.5 * 3.2, a calculator may give the answer as simply 8. But the answer is Report only the proper number of
accurate to two significant figures, so the proper answer is 8.0. See Fig. 1–6b. significant figures in the final result. But
keep extra digits during the calculation
CONCEPTUAL EXAMPLE 1;2 Significant figures. Using a protractor
(Fig. 1–7), you measure an angle to be 30°. (a) How many significant figures FIGURE 1;7 Example 1–2.
should you quote in this measurement? (b) Use a calculator to find the cosine A protractor used to measure an
of the angle you measured. angle.

RESPONSE (a) If you look at a protractor, you will see that the precision
with which you can measure an angle is about one degree (certainly not 0.1°).
So you can quote two significant figures, namely 30° (not 30.0°). (b) If you
enter cos 30° in your calculator, you will get a number like 0.866025403.
But the angle you entered is known only to two significant figures, so its cosine
is correctly given by 0.87; you must round your answer to two significant figures.
NOTE Trigonometric functions, like cosine, are reviewed in Chapter 3 and Appendix A.

Scientific Notation
We commonly write numbers in “powers of ten,” or “scientific” notation—for
instance 36,900 as 3.69 * 104, or 0.0021 as 2.1 * 10–3. One advantage of
scientific notation (reviewed in Appendix A) is that it allows the number of
significant figures to be clearly expressed. For example, it is not clear whether
36,900 has three, four, or five significant figures. With powers of 10 notation
the ambiguity can be avoided: if the number is known to three significant
figures, we write 3.69 * 104, but if it is known to four, we write 3.690 * 104.
EXERCISE C Write each of the following in scientific notation and state the number of
significant figures for each: (a) 0.0258; (b) 42,300; (c) 344.50.

SECTION 1–4 Measurement and Uncertainty; Significant Figures 7

GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD 29-08-2014 14:01 Page 8

* Percent Uncertainty vs. Significant Figures

The significant figures rule is only approximate, and in some cases may under-
estimate the accuracy (or uncertainty) of the answer. Suppose for example we
divide 97 by 92:
97
= 1.05 L 1.1.
92
Both 97 and 92 have two significant figures, so the rule says to give the answer
as 1.1. Yet the numbers 97 and 92 both imply an uncertainty of &1 if no other
uncertainty is stated. Both 9261 and 9761 imply an uncertainty of
about 1% (1兾92 L 0.01 = 1%). But the final result to two significant figures
is 1.1, with an implied uncertainty of &0.1, which is an uncertainty of about 10%
(0.1兾1.1 L 0.1 L 10%). It is better in this case to give the answer as 1.05 (which
is three significant figures). Why? Because 1.05 implies an uncertainty of &0.01
which is 0.01兾1.05 L 0.01 L 1%, just like the uncertainty in the original
numbers 92 and 97.
SUGGESTION: Use the significant figures rule, but consider the % uncertainty
too, and add an extra digit if it gives a more realistic estimate of uncertainty.

Approximations
Much of physics involves approximations, often because we do not have the
means to solve a problem precisely. For example, we may choose to ignore air
resistance or friction in doing a Problem even though they are present in the
real world, and then our calculation is only an approximation. In doing Problems,
we should be aware of what approximations we are making, and be aware
that the precision of our answer may not be nearly as good as the number of
significant figures given in the result.

Accuracy vs. Precision

There is a technical difference between “precision” and “accuracy.” Precision in
a strict sense refers to the repeatability of the measurement using a given instru-
ment. For example, if you measure the width of a board many times, getting
results like 8.81 cm, 8.85 cm, 8.78 cm, 8.82 cm (interpolating between the 0.1 cm
marks as best as possible each time), you could say the measurements give a
precision a bit better than 0.1 cm. Accuracy refers to how close a measurement
is to the true value. For example, if the ruler shown in Fig. 1–5 was manufac-
tured with a 2% error, the accuracy of its measurement of the board’s width
(about 8.8 cm) would be about 2% of 8.8 cm or about &0.2 cm. Estimated
uncertainty is meant to take both accuracy and precision into account.

1–5 Units, Standards, and

the SI System
The measurement of any quantity is made relative to a particular standard or unit,
and this unit must be specified along with the numerical value of the quantity.
For example, we can measure length in British units such as inches,
feet, or miles, or in the metric system in centimeters, meters, or kilometers. To
specify that the length of a particular object is 18.6 is insufficient. The unit
must be given, because 18.6 meters is very different from 18.6 inches or
18.6 millimeters.
For any unit we use, such as the meter for distance or the second for time,
we need to define a standard which defines exactly how long one meter or one
second is. It is important that standards be chosen that are readily reproducible
so that anyone needing to make a very accurate measurement can refer to the
standard in the laboratory and communicate with other people.

8 CHAPTER 1 Introduction, Measurement, Estimating

GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD 29-08-2014 14:01 Page 9

Length
The first truly international standard was the meter (abbreviated m) established
as the standard of length by the French Academy of Sciences in the 1790s. The
standard meter was originally chosen to be one ten-millionth of the distance
from the Earth’s equator to either pole,† and a platinum rod to represent this
length was made. (One meter is, very roughly, the distance from the tip of your
nose to the tip of your finger, with arm and hand stretched out horizontally.) In
1889, the meter was defined more precisely as the distance between two finely
engraved marks on a particular bar of platinum–iridium alloy. In 1960, to FIGURE 1;8 Some lengths:
provide even greater precision and reproducibility, the meter was redefined as (a) viruses (about 10 –7 m long)
1,650,763.73 wavelengths of a particular orange light emitted by the gas attacking a cell; (b) Mt. Everest’s
krypton-86. In 1983 the meter was again redefined, this time in terms of the height is on the order of 104 m
speed of light (whose best measured value in terms of the older definition of the (8850 m above sea level, to be precise).
meter was 299,792,458 m兾s, with an uncertainty of 1 m兾s). The new definition
reads: “The meter is the length of path traveled by light in vacuum during a
time interval of 1兾299,792,458 of a second.”‡
British units of length (inch, foot, mile) are now defined in terms of the
meter. The inch (in.) is defined as exactly 2.54 centimeters (cm; 1 cm = 0.01 m).
Other conversion factors are given in the Table on the inside of the front cover
of this book. Table 1–1 presents some typical lengths, from very small to very
large, rounded off to the nearest power of 10. See also Fig. 1–8. [Note that the
abbreviation for inches (in.) is the only one with a period, to distinguish it from
the word “in”.]
(a)
Time
The standard unit of time is the second (s). For many years, the second was
defined as 1兾86,400 of a mean solar day (24 h兾day * 60 min兾h * 60 s兾min =
86,400 s兾day). The standard second is now defined more precisely in terms of
the frequency of radiation emitted by cesium atoms when they pass between
two particular states. [Specifically, one second is defined as the time required
for 9,192,631,770 oscillations of this radiation.] There are, by definition, 60 s in
one minute (min) and 60 minutes in one hour (h). Table 1–2 presents a range of
measured time intervals, rounded off to the nearest power of 10.

†
Modern measurements of the Earth’s circumference reveal that the intended length is off by about
one-fiftieth of 1%. Not bad!
‡
(b)
The new definition of the meter has the effect of giving the speed of light the exact value of
299,792,458 m兾s.

TABLE 1;1 Some Typical Lengths or Distances TABLE 1;2 Some Typical Time Intervals
(order of magnitude) (order of magnitude)

Length (or Distance) Meters (approximate) Time Interval Seconds (approximate)

Neutron or proton (diameter) 10 –15 m Lifetime of very unstable
Atom (diameter) 10 –10 m subatomic particle 10–23 s
Virus [see Fig. 1–8a] 10 –7 m Lifetime of radioactive elements 10–22 s to 1028 s
Sheet of paper (thickness) 10 –4 m Lifetime of muon 10–6 s
Finger width 10 –2 m Time between human heartbeats 100 s ( = 1 s)
Football field length 102 m One day 105 s
Height of Mt. Everest [see Fig. 1–8b] 104 m One year 3 * 107 s
Earth diameter 107 m Human life span 2 * 109 s
Earth to Sun 1011 m Length of recorded history 1011 s
Earth to nearest star 1016 m Humans on Earth 1013 s
Earth to nearest galaxy 1022 m Age of Earth 1017 s
Earth to farthest galaxy visible 1026 m Age of Universe 4 * 1017 s

SECTION 1–5 Units, Standards, and the SI System 9

GIAN_PPA7_01_AP_001-020v8.1HR1.1.1.QXD 6/27/16 1:08 PM Page 10

TABLE 1;3 Some Masses

Mass
Kilograms
Object (approximate) The standard unit of mass is the kilogram (kg). The standard mass is a partic-
ular platinum–iridium cylinder, kept at the International Bureau of Weights
Electron 10–30 kg and Measures near Paris, France, whose mass is defined as exactly 1 kg. A range
Proton, neutron 10–27 kg of masses is presented in Table 1–3. [For practical purposes, 1 kg weighs about
DNA molecule 10–17 kg 2.2 pounds on Earth.]
Bacterium 10–15 kg When dealing with atoms and molecules, we usually use the unified atomic
Mosquito 10–5 kg mass unit (u or amu). In terms of the kilogram,
Plum 10–1 kg 1 u = 1.6605 * 10–27 kg.
Human 102 kg
Precise values of this and other useful numbers are given on page A-72.
Ship 108 kg The definitions of other standard units for other quantities will be given as
Earth 6 * 1024 kg we encounter them in later Chapters.
Sun 2 * 1030 kg
Galaxy 1041 kg Unit Prefixes
In the metric system, the larger and smaller units are defined in multiples of 10
from the standard unit, and this makes calculation particularly easy. Thus
1 1
1 kilometer (km) is 1000 m, 1 centimeter is 100 m, 1 millimeter (mm) is 1000 m or 101 cm,
and so on. The prefixes “centi-,” “kilo-,” and others are listed in Table 1–4 and
can be applied not only to units of length but to units of volume, mass, or any
1
other unit. For example, a centiliter (cL) is 100 liter (L), and a kilogram (kg) is
1000 grams (g). An 8.2-megapixel camera has a detector with 8,200,000 pixels
(individual “picture elements”).
In common usage, 1 mm (= 10–6 m) is called 1 micron.

Systems of Units
P R O B L E M S O LV I N G When dealing with the laws and equations of physics it is very important to use a
Always use a consistent set of units consistent set of units. Several systems of units have been in use over the years.
Today the most important is the Système International (French for International
System), which is abbreviated SI. In SI units, the standard of length is the meter,
the standard for time is the second, and the standard for mass is the kilogram.
TABLE 1;4 Metric (SI) Prefixes This system used to be called the MKS (meter-kilogram-second) system.
A second metric system is the cgs system, in which the centimeter, gram, and
Prefix Abbreviation Value
second are the standard units of length, mass, and time, as abbreviated in the title.
yotta Y 1024 The British engineering system (although more used in the U.S. than Britain) has
zetta Z 1021 as its standards the foot for length, the pound for force, and the second for time.
exa E 1018 We use SI units almost exclusively in this book.
peta P 1015
* Base vs. Derived Quantities
tera T 1012
giga G 109
Physical quantities can be divided into two categories: base quantities and
derived quantities. The corresponding units for these quantities are called base
mega M 106
units and derived units. A base quantity must be defined in terms of a standard.
kilo k 103
Scientists, in the interest of simplicity, want the smallest number of base quanti-
hecto h 102 ties possible consistent with a full description of the physical world. This
deka da 101 number turns out to be seven, and those used in the SI are given in Table 1–5.
deci d 10–1
centi c 10–2
TABLE 1–5 SI Base Quantities and Units
milli m 10–3
micro† m 10–6 Quantity Unit Unit Abbreviation
nano n 10–9 Length meter m
pico p 10–12 Time second s
femto f 10–15 Mass kilogram kg
atto a 10–18 Electric current ampere A
zepto z 10–21 Temperature kelvin K
yocto y 10–24 Amount of substance mole mol
†
m is the Greek letter “mu.” Luminous intensity candela cd

10 CHAPTER 1 Introduction, Measurement, Estimating

GIAN_PPA7_01_AP_001-020v8.1HR1.1.1.QXD 6/27/16 1:08 PM Page 11

All other quantities can be defined in terms of these seven base quantities,† and
hence are referred to as derived quantities. An example of a derived quantity is
speed, which is defined as distance divided by the time it takes to travel that
distance. A Table on page A-73 lists many derived quantities and their units in
terms of base units. To define any quantity, whether base or derived, we can
specify a rule or procedure, and this is called an operational definition.

1–6 Converting Units

Any quantity we measure, such as a length, a speed, or an electric current,
consists of a number and a unit. Often we are given a quantity in one set of
units, but we want it expressed in another set of units. For example, suppose we
measure that a shelf is 21.5 inches wide, and we want to express this in centi-
meters. We must use a conversion factor, which in this case is, by definition, exactly
1 in. = 2.54 cm
or, written another way,
1 = 2.54 cm兾in.
Since multiplying by the number one does not change anything, the width of our
shelf, in cm, is
21.5 inches = (21.5 in. ) * a 2.54 b = 54.6 cm.
cm
in.
Note how the units (inches in this case) cancelled out (thin red lines). A Table
containing many unit conversions is found on page A-73. Let’s consider some
Examples.

EXAMPLE 1;3 The 8000-m peaks. There are only 14 peaks whose sum-
mits are over 8000 m above sea level. They are the tallest peaks in the
world (Fig. 1–9 and Table 1–6) and are referred to as “eight-thousanders.”
What is the elevation, in feet, of an elevation of 8000 m? FIGURE 1;9 The world’s second
highest peak, K2, whose summit is
APPROACH We need to convert meters to feet, and we can start with the considered the most difficult of the
conversion factor 1 in. = 2.54 cm, which is exact. That is, 1 in. = 2.5400 cm “8000-ers.” K2 is seen here from the
to any number of significant figures, because it is defined to be. south (Pakistan). Example 1–3.
SOLUTION One foot is 12 in., so we can write
cm PHYSICS APPLIED
1 ft = (12 in. ) ¢ 2.54 ≤ = 30.48 cm = 0.3048 m,
in. The world’s tallest peaks
which is exact. Note how the units cancel (colored slashes). We can rewrite
this equation to find the number of feet in 1 meter: TABLE 1;6 The 8000-m Peaks
1 ft
1m = = 3.28084 ft. Peak Height (m)
0.3048
(We could carry the result to 6 significant figures because 0.3048 is exact, Mt. Everest 8850
0.304800 p .) We multiply this equation by 8000.0 (to have five significant figures): K2 8611
ft Kangchenjunga 8586
8000.0 m = (8000.0 m ) ¢ 3.28084 ≤ = 26,247 ft. Lhotse 8516
m
Makalu 8462
An elevation of 8000 m is 26,247 ft above sea level.
Cho Oyu 8201
NOTE We could have done the unit conversions all in one line: Dhaulagiri 8167
100 cm 1 in. 1 ft Manaslu 8156
8000.0 m = (8000.0 m ) ¢ ≤¢ ≤¢ ≤ = 26,247 ft.
1 m 2.54 cm 12 in. Nanga Parbat 8125
The key is to multiply conversion factors, each equal to one (= 1.0000), and Annapurna 8091
to make sure which units cancel. Gasherbrum I 8068
Broad Peak 8047
†
Some exceptions are for angle (radians—see Chapter 8), solid angle (steradian), and sound level Gasherbrum II 8035
(bel or decibel, Chapter 12). No general agreement has been reached as to whether these are base Shisha Pangma 8013
or derived quantities.

SECTION 1–6 Converting Units 11

GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD 29-08-2014 14:01 Page 12

EXAMPLE 1;4 Apartment area. You have seen a nice apartment whose
floor area is 880 square feet Aft2 B. What is its area in square meters?
APPROACH We use the same conversion factor, 1 in. = 2.54 cm, but this time
we have to use it twice.
SOLUTION Because 1 in. = 2.54 cm = 0.0254 m, then
1 ft2 = (12 in.)2(0.0254 m兾in.)2 = 0.0929 m2.
So
880 ft2 = A880 ft2 BA0.0929 m2兾ft2 B L 82 m2.
NOTE As a rule of thumb, an area given in ft2 is roughly 10 times the number
of square meters (more precisely, about 10.8 * ).

EXAMPLE 1;5 Speeds. Where the posted speed limit is 55 miles per hour
(mi兾h or mph), what is this speed (a) in meters per second (m兾s) and (b) in
kilometers per hour (km兾h)?
APPROACH We again use the conversion factor 1 in. = 2.54 cm, and we
recall that there are 5280 ft in a mile and 12 inches in a foot; also, one hour
contains (60 min兾h) * (60 s兾min) = 3600 s兾h.
SOLUTION (a) We can write 1 mile as

in. cm 1m
1 mi = (5280 ft ) ¢ 12 ≤ ¢ 2.54 ≤¢ ≤
ft in. 100 cm
= 1609 m.
We also know that 1 hour contains 3600 s, so
mi mi m 1 h
55 = ¢ 55 ≤ ¢ 1609 ≤¢ ≤
h h mi 3600 s
m,
= 25
s
where we rounded off to two significant figures.
(b) Now we use 1 mi = 1609 m = 1.609 km; then

mi mi km
55 = ¢ 55 ≤ ¢ 1.609 ≤
h h mi
km .
= 88
h
P R O B L E M S O LV I N G NOTE Each conversion factor is equal to one. You can look up most conver-
Conversion factors = 1 sion factors in the Table inside the front cover.

EXERCISE D Return to the first Chapter-Opening Question, page 1, and answer it

again now. Try to explain why you may have answered differently the first time.

EXERCISE E Would a driver traveling at 15 m兾s in a 35 mi兾h zone be exceeding the

speed limit? Why or why not?

P R O B L E M S O LV I N G
Unit conversion is wrong if
units do not cancel
When changing units, you can avoid making an error in the use of conver-
sion factors by checking that units cancel out properly. For example, in our
conversion of 1 mi to 1609 m in Example 1–5(a), if we had incorrectly used the
factor A 100
1 m B instead of A 100 cm B, the centimeter units would not have cancelled
cm 1m

out; we would not have ended up with meters.

12 CHAPTER 1 Introduction, Measurement, Estimating

GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD 29-08-2014 14:01 Page 13

1–7 Order of Magnitude:

Rapid Estimating
We are sometimes interested only in an approximate value for a quantity. This
might be because an accurate calculation would take more time than it is worth
or would require additional data that are not available. In other cases, we may
want to make a rough estimate in order to check a calculation made on a calcu-
lator, to make sure that no blunders were made when the numbers were entered.
A rough estimate can be made by rounding off all numbers to one significant P R O B L E M S O LV I N G
figure and its power of 10, and after the calculation is made, again keeping only How to make a rough estimate
one significant figure. Such an estimate is called an order-of-magnitude estimate
and can be accurate within a factor of 10, and often better. In fact, the phrase
“order of magnitude” is sometimes used to refer simply to the power of 10.
Let’s do some Examples.

r = 500 m
10 m

(b)

FIGURE 1;10 Example 1–6. (a) How much water is in this

lake? (Photo is one of the Rae Lakes in the Sierra Nevada
of California.) (b) Model of the lake as a cylinder. [We could
go one step further and estimate the mass or weight of this
lake. We will see later that water has a density of 1000 kg兾m3,
so this lake has a mass of about A103 kg兾m3 BA107 m3 B L 1010 kg,
which is about 10 billion kg or 10 million metric tons.
(A metric ton is 1000 kg, about 2200 lb, slightly larger than a
(a) British ton, 2000 lb.)]

EXAMPLE 1;6 ESTIMATE Volume of a lake. Estimate how much water

there is in a particular lake, Fig. 1–10a, which is roughly circular, about 1 km
across, and you guess it has an average depth of about 10 m.
APPROACH No lake is a perfect circle, nor can lakes be expected to have a
perfectly flat bottom. We are only estimating here. To estimate the volume,
we can use a simple model of the lake as a cylinder: we multiply the average
depth of the lake times its roughly circular surface area, as if the lake were a
cylinder (Fig. 1–10b).
SOLUTION The volume V of a cylinder is the product of its height h times PHYSICS APPLIED
the area of its base: V = hpr2, where r is the radius of the circular base.† The Estimating the volume (or mass) of
radius r is 12 km = 500 m, so the volume is approximately a lake; see also Fig. 1–10

V = hpr2 L (10 m) * (3) * A5 * 102 mB L 8 * 106 m3 L 107 m3,

2

where p was rounded off to 3. So the volume is on the order of 107 m3,
ten million cubic meters. Because of all the estimates that went into this
calculation, the order-of-magnitude estimate A107 m3 B is probably better to
quote than the 8 * 106 m3 figure.
NOTE To express our result in U.S. gallons, we see in the Table on the inside
front cover that 1 liter = 10–3 m3 L 14 gallon. Hence, the lake contains
A8 * 106 m3 BA1 gallon兾4 * 10 –3 m3 B L 2 * 109 gallons of water.

†
Formulas like this for volume, area, etc., are found inside the back cover of this book.

SECTION 1–7 Order of Magnitude: Rapid Estimating 13

GIAN_PPA7_GE_01_001-020v8.1HR1.1.QXD 29-08-2014 14:01 Page 14

EXAMPLE 1;7 ESTIMATE Thickness of a sheet of paper. Estimate the

thickness of a page of this book.
APPROACH At first you might think that a special measuring device, a
micrometer (Fig. 1–11), is needed to measure the thickness of one page since
an ordinary ruler can not be read so finely. But we can use a trick or, to put it in
physics terms, make use of a symmetry: we can make the reasonable assump-
tion that all the pages of this book are equal in thickness.
SOLUTION We can use a ruler to measure hundreds of pages at once. If you
measure the thickness of the first 500 pages of this book (page 1 to page 500),
you might get something like 1.5 cm. Note that 500 numbered pages, counted
front and back, is 250 separate pieces of paper. So one sheet must have a
thickness of about

1.5 cm
L 6 * 10 –3 cm = 6 * 10–2 mm,
250 sheets
FIGURE 1;11 Example 1–7.
Micrometer used for measuring or less than a tenth of a millimeter (0.1 mm).
small thicknesses.

FIGURE 1;12 Example 1–8. It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is to draw a diagram
Diagrams are really useful! when solving a physics Problem, as the next Example shows.

(a) EXAMPLE 1;8 ESTIMATE Height by triangulation. Estimate the height

of the building shown in Fig. 1–12, by “triangulation,” with the help of a bus-stop
pole and a friend.
?
APPROACH By standing your friend next to the pole, you estimate the height
of the pole to be 3 m. You next step away from the pole until the top of the
pole is in line with the top of the building, Fig. 1–12a. You are 5 ft 6 in. tall, so
3m
1.5 m your eyes are about 1.5 m above the ground. Your friend is taller, and when
2m she stretches out her arms, one hand touches you, and the other touches the
pole, so you estimate that distance as 2 m (Fig. 1–12a). You then pace off the
distance from the pole to the base of the building with big, 1-m-long steps, and
(b) you get a total of 16 steps or 16 m.
SOLUTION Now you draw, to scale, the diagram shown in Fig. 1–12b using
these measurements. You can measure, right on the diagram, the last side of
x=?
the triangle to be about x = 13 m. Alternatively, you can use similar triangles
to obtain the height x:
1.5 m
2m 16 m 1.5 m 1.5 m x ,
=
18 m 2m 18 m
so
x L 13 12 m.
FIGURE 1;13 Enrico Fermi. Fermi
contributed significantly to both
Finally you add in your eye height of 1.5 m above the ground to get your final
theoretical and experimental physics,
a feat almost unique in modern times. result: the building is about 15 m tall.

Another approach, this one made famous by Enrico Fermi (1901–1954,

Fig. 1–13), was to show his students how to estimate the number of piano tuners in
a city, say, Chicago or San Francisco. To get a rough order-of-magnitude estimate
of the number of piano tuners today in San Francisco, a city of about 800,000
inhabitants, we can proceed by estimating the number of functioning pianos,
how often each piano is tuned, and how many pianos each tuner can tune. To
estimate the number of pianos in San Francisco, we note that certainly not
everyone has a piano. A guess of 1 family in 3 having a piano would corre-
spond to 1 piano per 12 persons, assuming an average family of 4 persons.

14 CHAPTER 1 Introduction, Measurement, Estimating

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
 FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
 Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
 The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

 This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
 “We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
 Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
 BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

 FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

 LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
 Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

 BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN