TOPIC 1: UNIT

AND
MEASUREMEN
TS
BY: MISS TENGKU LINA IZZATI
Lecture Outline
1.1 Basic units and quantity
1.2 Unit conversion
1.3 Unit analysis
Physics and Measurement
Physics attempts to describe nature in an objective way through
measurement

Measurement are expressed in units;

Officially accepted unit are called standard unit.

Major systems of unit:

◦ Metric cgs system – centimeter, gram, second

◦ British (used by the U.S.) – feet, pound, second

1.1 Basic units and quantity
Length, mass and time are the fundamental quantities;
combination of them will form all the other unit.
Today the most important system is the Système
International (SI), which also based on the metric system –
meter, kilogram and second
Length
 SI unit of length: meter (m)
 The original definition: one ten-millionth of the
distance from the earth equator to either pole
 The newest definition: ‘The meter is the length
of path traveled by light in vacuum during time
interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second’
Time
 SI unit of Time: second (s)

 The original definition: one second is define as 1/86,400

of a mean solar day (24h/day × 60min/h × 60s/min =

86,400s/day)

 The newest definition: Time required for 9,192,631,770

periods of radiation emitted by cesium atoms

Mass
 SI unit of mass: kilogram (kg)
 The original definition: one kilogram is the mass
of 0.10 m3 of water
 The newest definition: the standard kilogram is a
platinum-iridium cylinder kept at he French
Bureau of Weights and measurement.
Unit prefixes → are symbols placed before
the symbol of a unit to specify the order of
magnitude of a quantity.

These are the standard SI prefixes for

indicating powers of 10. Many are familiar;
yotta, zetta, exa, hecto, deka, atto, zepto,
and yocto are rarely used.
 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES

BASE QUANTITIES DERIVED QUANTITIES

Quantities that exist in

Quantities obtained by
the simplest form from
combining the basic
which other quantities
quantities according to
are derived
their definitions.
Eg: mass, length, time,
Eg: speed, force,
temperature, electric
momentum, pressure,
current etc
power etc
We will be working in the SI system, in which the basic units
are kilograms, meters, and seconds. Quantities not in the
table are derived quantities, expressed in terms of the base
units.
1.2 Unit Conversion
A conversion factor simply lets you express a quantity in
terms of other units without changing its physical value
or size.
Example: 1 in. = 2.54 cm.
Written another way: 1 = 2.54 cm/in.
So if we have measured a length of 21.5 inches, and
wish to convert it to centimeters, we use the conversion
factor:
Table shows the conversion factors between SI
and British units for length and mass only.

Length Mass
1 m = 39.37 in = 3.281 ft 1 kg = 103 g
1 in = 2.54 cm 1 slug = 14.59 kg
1 km = 0.621 mi 1 lb = 0.453 592 kg
1 mi = 5280 ft = 1.609 km 1 kg = 0.0685 slug
1 angstrom (Å) = 10-10 m
QUESTION 1: The 8000-m peaks.

The fourteen tallest peaks in the world are referred to as “eight-

thousanders,” meaning their summits are over 8000 m above sea level.
What is the elevation, in feet, of an elevation of 8000 m?
QUESTION 2: Speeds
Where the posted speed limit is 55 miles per hour
(mi/h or mph), what is this speed

a) in meter per second (m/s)

b) in kilometer per hour (km/h)

(1 mile = 5280 ft, 12 in = 2.54 cm)

Convert…..
1. 340 m/s to km/h 1224 km/h

2. 300 m to cm
2 2 3.00 x 106 cm²

3. 1000 kg/m to g/cm

3 3 1.00 g/cm3
1.50 x  10-8 m
4. 15.0 nm to m
2.4 x 105 kW
5. 240 MW to kW
0.481 MW
6. 481 kW to MW
14.2 mg/mm²
7. 1.42 g/cm2 to mg/mm2
6.50 x 10-3 years
8. 2.05 x 105 seconds into years
8.41 Kg/L
9. 8.41 g/mL to Kg/L
3.33 m/s
10.12.77 km/hr
 1.3 Unit Analysis
 A powerful way to check your calculation is to use unit
analysis.

 Not only must the numerical values on both sides of an

equation be equal, the units must be equal as well.
 Dimensions of a quantity are the base units that
make it up; they are generally written using square
brackets.
Example: Speed = distance/time
Dimensions of speed: [L/T]
 In dimensions, mass, length, time, temperature,
and electric current is symbolize with M, L, T, K and
A respectively.
QUESTION 3
Physical Quantity Dimensional Quantity
Length
Time
Mass
Force
Velocity
Pressure
Momentum
Potential Energy
Power
 Dimensional analysis is the checking of dimensions of all
quantities in an equation to ensure that those which are
added, subtracted, or equated have the same dimensions.

LHS = RHS
 homogenous in dimensions
If LHS ≠ RHS  incorrect, dimensionally inconsistent
 Example: Is this the correct equation for velocity?

Wrong!
QUESTION 4
Find the dimensions of kinetic energy Ek and
hence determine its unit.
QUESTION 5
The Bernoulli’s equation states that
1
P  hg  v 2  k
2
Where P represents pressure, ρ represents density, g represents
acceleration of free fall, v represents velocity and k is a constant.
Show that the equation is dimensionally correct and state the
dimensional unit for k.
QUESTION 6
1. The speed v of an object is given by the equation
v = Et³ - Ft, where t refers to time. What are the
dimensions of E and F?