PHYSICS

 is the study of various physical phenomena and the ANCIENT HISTORY

fundamental laws governing them Elements of what became physics were drawn primarily from the
 Origin word of physics comes from Greek “PHUSIS” fields of astronomy, optics, and mechanics, which were
means nature. methodologically united through the study of geometry.
BRANCHES OF PHYSICS
TIMELINE OF PHYSICS
PHYSICS Dates WORKS/ DISCOVERIES
500 – 1BC Archimedes, Aristotle Heliocentric theory,
Classical Physics geometry
Modern Physics
1 – 1300 Al-Hazen, Ptolemy in Egypt Optics, geocentric
AD theory
Developed before 19th century Developed after 19th century 1301 – 1499 Leonardo de Vinci, Nicolas Cusanus, Earth is in
Classical Mechanics Atomic Physics motion, Occam’s Razor
Waves Nuclear Physics 1500 – 1599 Nicolaus Copernicus, Tyco Brahe, Heliocentric
Thermodynamics Quantum Mechanics theory revived, astronomy
Electromagnetism 1600 – 1650 Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Telescope, Laws
of planetary motion
Optics
1651 – 1699 Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Newtons Laws optics,
Gas Laws
CLASSICAL MECHANICS 1700 – 1750 Daniel Bernoulli, Edmund Halley,
Thermodynamics, Corpuscular theory
 is the study of effects produced by a force
1751 – 1799 Coulomb, Henry Cavendish, Gravitational constant,
Example: Motion of a car, loading on a bridge, Working of hydraulic
specific heats
machines
1800 – 1830 Thomas Young, Michael Faraday Interference,
magnetic field
WAVES 1831 – 1860 Lord Kevin, James Clerk Maxwell, Theory of Heat,
 is the study of effects produced by a vibration or an Doppler Effect
oscillation 1861 – 1899 Wilhelm Roentgen, Henri Becquerel, The ethers,
Example: Oscillation of a pendulum, Sound produced by a violin, X-rays, radioactivity
Noise produced by a fighter jet 1900 – 1920 Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Quantum Mechanics,
special relativity
THERMODYNAMICS 1921 – 1940 Enrico Fermi, Werner Heisenberg, Accelerators,
 is the study of effects produced by a heat Uncertainty Principle
Example: Expansion of mercury in a thermometer, working of an 1941 - 1960 Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, Nuclear Bomb,
engine, working of a refrigerator lasers, The Big bang
1961 – 1980 Murray Gell-Mann, Stephen Hawking, First Man
ELECTROMAGNETISM on the Moon, Black Holes
1981 – 1999 Carlo Rubbia, Alan Guth CERN, Hubble Space
 is the study of effects produced by a charge or a magnet.
Telescope
Example: Light thundering, Working of a heater, Generation of
2000 – Now Michio Kaku, John Beamish, tau Neutrino, Keck
electricity Telescope
OPTICS FAMOUS PHYSICIST
 is the study of effects produced by a light Galileo Galilei – Discovered the first four moons of Jupiter.
Example: Image produced by a plane mirror, Colours of the sky, Isaac Newton – Newton developed the three laws of motion.
Colours seen in soap bubbles Benjamin Franklin – He invented electricity.
James Presscott Joule – He studied the nature of heat.
ATOMIC PHYSICS Wilhelm Roentgen – He discovered X-ray generator.
 is the study of the structure of an atom and characteristics Albert Einstein – He did the theory of relativity.
of subatomic particles.
Example: Neon sign board, Working of a laser, Working of compact
fluorescent light

NUCLEAR PHYSICS
 is the study of an atomic nuclei and their constituent
particles.
Examples: Nuclear power generation, Carbon dating, Radiotherapy

QUANTUM MECHANICS
 deals with the behavior of matter and energy at atomic
scale
Example: Smart phones, Electron microscope, Magnetic Resonance
Imaging
 2 for force
o kg .m/ s
UNITS AND MEASUREMENTS
SYSTEM OF UNITS
MECHANICS
 The study of Physics begins with mechanics.
 Is the branch of physics that focuses on the motion of
objects and the forces that cause the motion to change.
2 PARTS TO MECHANICS
1. Kinematics
2. Dynamics
KINEMATICS deals with the concepts that are needed to describe
motion, without any reference to forces. INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS
 Introduced by General Conference on Weight and
MEASUREMENTS Measures in 1971.
 The comparison of any physical quantity with its  Developed for international usage in scientific,
same kind. technical and industrial work
Examples of Measurement in everyday life:
 Consists of seven fundamental units and two
Measurement of Mass, Length, Temperature and
supplementary units.
Pressure
UNITS
 A definite amount of a physical quantity is taken
as its standard unit.

PHYSICAL QUANTITIES
 All the quantities in terms of which laws of
physics are described, and whose measurement is
necessary.

PHYSICAL QUANTITY
 A physical quantity that can be measured and
described by a number.

TYPES OF PHYSICAL QUANTITIES

 FUNDAMENTAL QUANTITIES – do not
depend on other physical quantities for their
measurement. DEFINITION OF KILOGRAM
o Mass Time  The kilogram is the mass of prototype cylinder of
o Length Temperature platinum – iridium alloy preserved at the
International Bureau of Weights and Measures, at
 DERIVED QUANTITIES – depend on one or
Sevres, near Paris.
more physical quantities for their measurement.
DEFINITION OF METRE AND SECOND
o Area Volume
 The metre is the length of the path travelled by
o Speed Force
light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/
TYPES OF UNITES
29,97,92,459 of a second.
 FUNDAMENTAL UNITS – used to measure
 The second is the duration of 9,19,26,31,770
fundamental quantities.
oscillations of light emitted b cesium – 133 atom.
o m for length
o kg for mass RULES FOR WRITING SI UNITS
o s for time
 DERIVED UNITS – used to derived quantities Rule 1: Full name of unit always starts with small letter even if
o m 2 for area named after a person.
newton not Newton
o m/s for speed ampere not Ampere
 coulomb not Coulomb

Rule 2: Symbol for unit named after a scientist should be in capital

letter.
N for newton A for ampere
K for kelvin C for coulomb

Rule 3: Symbols for all other units are written in small letters.
m for metre cd for candela
s for second kg for kilogram

Rule 4: One space is left between the last digit of numerical and the
symbol of a unit.
10 kg not 10kg
50 N not 50N
15 Pa not 15 Pa

Rule 5: The units do not have plural forms.

20 metre not 20 metres
10 joule not 10 joules
30 kelvin not 30 kelvins
25 ohm not 25 ohms

Rule 6: No space is used between symbols for unit.

35 kWh not 35 Kw h
70 Nm not 70 N m
60 VA not 60 V A

ACCURACY AND PRECISION

Accuracy
 how close a measurement or attempt is to the
actual or target value.
 Measuring near true value
Precise
 How consistent our results are regardless of
proximity to actual or target. ROUNDING OFF
 Getting consistent results. Means a number is made simpler by keeping its value intact
Example: 23.11 Kg, 23.09 Kg, 23/2 Kg but closer to the next number. It is done for whole numbers and
decimals at various places of hundreds, tens, tenths, etc. Rounding off
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES numbers is done to preserve the significant figures.
“Significant” means “important”. The first significant
figure (significant digit) of a number is the most important digit
which expresses the size of the number; it is the first non-zero digit.
SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
 INSTRUMENTAL ERRORS
 In physics, we deal from very small to very large  These errors are arise due to faulty construction
quantities. of instruments.
 We talk about size of nucleus, mass of
elementary particles, size of galaxies and mass of
black holes.
Size of proton= 0.00000000000000087 m
Speed of Light = 299792458 m/
 To work conveniently with such extreme
numbers, scientific notation is used.
 ENVIRONMENTAL ERRORS
EXPRESSING A NUMBER IN SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
 These errors are caused by external conditions
Rule 1: Express the number as a number between 1 and 10 times a like pressure, temperature, magnetic field, wind
power of 10. etc.
Rule 2: If the decimal point is moved to the left in the original Following are the steps that one must follow in order
number, make the power 10 positive. to eliminate environmental errors:
Rule 3: If the decimal point is moved to the right in the original  Try to maintain the temperature and
number, make the power of 10 negative. humidity of the laboratory constant by
Rule 4: The power of 10 always equals the number of places by making some arrangements.
which the decimal point has been shifted to the left or right in the  Ensure that there should not be any
original number. external magnetic or electric field
around the instrument.

2. GROSS ERRORS
 These errors are caused by mistake in using
instruments, recording data and calculating result.
Examples:
a. A person may read a pressure gauge indicating 1.01 Pa
as 1.10 Pa
b. By mistake a person make use of an ordinary
ERRORS IN MEASUREMENT electronic scale having poor sensitivity to measure
Difference between actual value of a quantity and the value obtained very low masses.
by a measurement is called an error. Careful reading and recording of data can reduce the
Error= │actual value – measure value │ gross errors to a great extent.

TYPES OF ERRORS 3. RANDOM ERRORS

 Systematic Errors  These errors are due to unknown causes and are
 Gross Errors sometimes termed as chance errors
 Random Errors  Due to unknown causes, they cannot be
eliminated.
1. SYSTEMATIC ERRORS  They can only be reduced and the error can be
 These errors are arise due to flaws in estimated by using some statistical operations.
experimental system. For example, suppose you measure the oscillation period of a
pendulum with a stopwatch five times.
 The system involves observer, measuring
instrument and the environment.
 These errors are eliminated by detecting the
source of error.

TYPES OF SYSTEMATIC ERRORS

 Personal Errors
 Instrumental Errors
 Environmental Errors

 PERSONAL ERRORS
 These errors are arise due to the faulty procedures
adopted by the person making measurements.