2 Introduction to Physical Science

Nature of Physical Science

NOTES CORNER
Physical Science Defined
Physical Science encompasses the branches of natural science that study about
non-living things, it is opposite to the biological (life) sciences. The founda-
tions of the physical sciences rest upon the basic scientific laws and theories and
key concepts behind physics, chemistry, earth sciences, and astronomy, each of
which explains/models a particular aspect of the behavior of nature.

The Major Branches of Physical Science

Physics Focuses on the basic
Chemistry Studies
principles of matter and en-
about matter, what
ergy and its inter-
it is made of and
action.
how it reacts.

Astronomy is the study of

the universe or the to-
tality of matter, energy,
space and time.

Earth Sciences Studies about the planet earth and its processes. It includes Ge-
ology (about the solid earth), Meteorology (about the earths atmosphere)
and Oceanography & Hydrology (about earths water).

Importance of Studying Physical Science

Being part of the General Education curriculum, Physical Science plays an im-
portant role in developing the foundation of the students understanding of the
higher courses. You might be taking medical, nursing, education, information
technology, engineering or even business courses and this subject will provide
you with the basic information that will help you in understanding the physical
world that you live in and its phenomena.

One typical example is that, in physical science you will learn

about the factors that affect the weather. Through your own
personal observations and the concepts that you have
learned you will know what you are going to wear for the
day, or you will know when to bring umbrella or protection
from rain and you can also plan your activities for the day.
Physical science, engineering and technology work
hand-in-hand to make our life easier and more com-
fortable. Lets say for example, physics (branch of
physical science) deals with the basic laws of nature.
These fundamental laws will be used and will serve as
Fig. 1 Connections
guide for engineers to develop and design models that among physical sciences,
can be used for human consumption. Then the prod- engineering and
uct of this is what we call technology. technology.

What is Physical Science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_-yF-g84ug

 Fundamentals of Physical Science by Randel De Leon Estacio 3

Scientific Process
NOTES CORNER
The Scientific Method (S.M)
The Scientific Method (SM) is a process of thinking through the possible solu-
tions to a problem and testing each possibility to find the best solution and it
attempts to minimize the influence of bias or prejudice in the experiment
when testing a hypothesis or a theory.

wikis.engrade.com

Based on the diagram above (from wikis.engrade.com), the scientific method

begins with identifying problems (asking questions or generating ideas) based
on observation/s. The second step would be the formulation of hypothesis
(this is a scientific guess), you can formulate one or more hypotheses. Third
step is testing the hypotheses (this can be done by means of experimentation).
Analyzing the results of your experimentation will be the fourth step. If the
result does not answer your problem, you can go back and test another hy-
pothesis or conduct another observation and further research. If the result of
your experiment answer your problem, the fifth step would be to draw conclu-
sion. And finally if your conclusion supports your hypothesis the last and very
important step should be communicating your results to the rest of the world,
especially in the scientific community.

A Scientific Theory summarizes a hypothesis or group of hypotheses that are

supported with repeated testing. A theory is valid as long as there is no evi-
dence to dispute it. Therefore, theories can be disproved. Example: Daltons
Atomic Theory.
While Scientific Law is a theoretical principle deduced from particular facts,
applicable to a defined group or class of phenomena, and expressed in a state-
ment that a particular phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are
present based on the definition lifted from Oxford English Dictionary. Exam-
ple: Newtons Laws of Motion and the Law of Conservation of Energy.

Scientific Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlb7tLJy5AI

 4 Introduction to Physical Science

Scientific Measurement
NOTES CORNER
The Scientific Measurement
At this point, you have to understand the basic concepts of measurement. Your
skill in measurement will help you to go farther in this course, since physical
science deals with physical phenomena and the physical world. Describing and
interpreting this would be much easier if you use numbers. As a scientist says
Mathematics is the Language of Science, you can communicate your ideas or
results easily using symbols and numbers.

Measurement is the process of comparing one quantity with another

quantity, and it is also referred to as the quantitative description of a
fundamental property of matter or a physical phenomenon.
Measurement

The problems met during the process Accuracy in measurement refers to the
of measuring that affect the accuracy measure of how closely the results
and precision of measurements are agree with the true (accepted) value. It
called Errors and might fall into one of also tells the operational quality of the
two basic categories: Systematic Error instrument produced, while Precision
or Random Error. refers to the degree to which measure-
ments or calculations show the same or
Systematic Random Errors
similar results.
Errors
Discrepan- Unpredicta-
cies that follow a ble errors due to
certain pattern. chance. They can High accuracy &
arise from mi- Low precision
Examples nute vibrations
are External in the apparatus, Low accuracy &
(wind, animals, and can lead to High precision
temp. etc.), In- many other small
strumental (due but uncontrolled
Low accuracy &
to un-calibrated effects. Low precision
instrument) and
Personal (the They are
Calibration is the pro- person who hard to distin- High accuracy &
cess of standardization measures with a guish and can High precision
of a measuring instru-
degree of bias). only be avoided
ment, by comparing or
checking the measure-
by doing several
ment against an accu- trials.
rate standard to deter-
mine any deviation, and As a student, you must strive for both accuracy and precision in all of your la-
then correct for errors. boratory activities. It is necessary for you to know the workings of each labora-
A calibration assures
tory instrument, to take each measurement carefully, and to recheck to make
that a device will pro-
sure that the instruments have precision. And make sure that you avoid errors
duce accurate and pre-
cise results. in doing activities or experiments.
 Fundamentals of Physical Science by Randel De Leon Estacio 5

Significant Digits Rules in Examples No.

Identifying of SD NOTES CORNER
Significant Digits (SD) refer to
Significant Digits
the number of reliably known
1. All non-zero 14344 kg 5
digits (other than a zero used to
digits are signifi- 258 cm 3
locate a decimal point) in a
cant. 8.7 x 103 2
number or measurement. It is
used to indicate the approxi- 2. Zeros between 808 L 3
mate number of digits that non-zero digits 500.24 in. 5
should be retained at the end of are significant.
the calculation. 3. Zeros before 0.00034 2
the first non- 0.00758 3
Uncertain zero digit are not
Certain Digit significant.
Digit 4. Additional 0.003420 4
Decimal
zeros to the right 5.00 3
Point
of the decimal 2.0 x 108 2
Significant Digits point and signif-
icant digits are
Significant Digits or Measurements significant.
can be expressed in Scientific Nota- 5. Zeros after 20400 3
tion or Rounded off into the least the last non-zero 2.0400 x 104 5
number of significant digits. digit may or may 2.04 x 104 3
not be signifi- 20400 kg 5
cant.
Scientific Notation
Scientific Notation is a compact way of writing a wide range of values, either
very small or very large values. The numbers are represented by the product of
a multiplying factor and a power of ten.
Exponent

Base Number
Multiples of ten

In writing a measurement using scientific notation, when you move the decimal
point to the left, the exponent is positive (+), and you are going to stop moving
the decimal point before the last non-zero digit. When you move the decimal to
the right, the exponent is negative (-), and you are going to stop moving the
decimal point after the first non-zero digit. Always remember that the base
number should range from 19.99 only.

Work Examples
1. 0. 000 000 000 000 000 910 938 kg
= 9.10938 x 10-16 kg

2. 4 984 215 meters (in three significant digits)

= 4.98 x 10-6 meters

3. 0.000028563 seconds (in two significant digits)

= 2.9 x 10-16 seconds
 6 Introduction to Physical Science

Fundamental Operations Involving Scientific Notation

NOTES CORNER
Addition and Subtraction: Quantities in scientific notation to be added or sub-
tracted must have the same exponent.

Multiplication: The product of two numbers written in scientific notation is the

product of the base numbers times 10 raised to the sum of their exponents.

Division: The quotient of two numbers written in scientific notation is the quo-
tient of the base numbers times 10 raised to the difference of their exponents.

Work Examples
1. 1.45 x 105 + 6.07 x 105 = 7.52 x 105

2. 2.93 x 108 + 1.05 x 106

293 x 106 + 1.05 x 106
294.05 x 106
= 2.94 x 108

3. (4.5 x 105) (1.7 x 109 ) = 7.7 x 1014

4. (5.0 x 1012) / (2.25 x 109 ) = 2.22 x 103

Rounding Numbers
If the calculated value contains nine or more digits, the process of rounding off
is applied to eliminate unwanted digits in your final answer. Certain rules must
be followed.
Rules Worked Examples
1. If the first digit to be dropped is less than 5, that Express the following in
digit and all the digits that follow are simply dropped. 3 significant digits.
The process of dropping digits is truncation.
28.223 = 28.2
36.723 = 36.7
2.810 = 2.81
2. If the first digit to be dropped is a digit greater Express the following in
than 5, or it is 5 followed by digits other than zero, 3 significant digits.
the excess digits are all dropped and the last retained
digit is increased in value by one unit. 24.6589 = 24.7
2589630 = 2590000
6769000 = 6.77 x 106
3. If the first digit to be dropped is a 5 not followed Express the following in
by any other digit, or if it is a 5 followed only by ze- 3 significant digits.
ros, an odd-even rule is applied.
Odd-even rule: If the last retained digit is even, its 2.575000 = 2.58
value is not changed, and the 5 and any zeros that 8.3850 = 8.38
follow are dropped. But if the last digit is odd, its val- 1.065 = 1.06
ue is increased by one. The intention of this rule is to 3.135000 = 3.14
average the effects of rounding off.
 Fundamentals of Physical Science by Randel De Leon Estacio 7

Systems of Units
Units give numbers particular meaning, they provide a shorter way of writing NOTES CORNER
down measurements and are helpful in converting different measurements.

The International System of Units (Systeme In-

ternational dUnites or SI), is the worlds most 20 60
commonly used system of units, both in every- Km Km/h
day commerce and in science. It was developed in
1960 from the meter kilogram second (MKS)
system, which in turn, had many variants. At its
development the SI also introduced several newly Quantity
named units that were previously not a part of and Unit
the metric system.

The SI system is founded on seven (7) SI base units, for seven base quantities
assumed to be mutually independent. 1. Length (meter), 2. Mass (kilogram),
3. Time (second), 4. Temperature (Kelvin), 5. Amount of Substance (mole),
6. Luminous Intensity (candela), and 7. Electric Current (Ampere).
Derived quantities are obtained from a combination of various base quanti-
ties and their units are determined from the relation between the base quan-
tities and the derived quantities. Derived units found in the text are speed,
velocity, acceleration, force/weight, work, power and energy.

Unit Conversion
Unit analysis or the Factor label method is one of the methods that can be
used in converting one unit (or system) to another unit (or system). The
process involves the cancellation of units other than the desired units
through the use of fixed relationships (Conversion Factor).
Unit sought for = unit given x conversion factor
Work Examples
1. Convert 8.5 km railways to meters. 1 Km = 1000 m

2. The volume of a block of wood is 16 cubic centimeters, what is its volume in

cubic meters? 1m = 100 cm

3. How many kilometers are there in 876 cm? 1 km = 1000 m 1 m = 100 cm

Conversion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tHpDzXP-lg
 8 Introduction to Physical Science

Converting temperature from one scale to another involves equations, formu-

NOTES CORNER las in converting temperature are as follows:

Celsius-Kelvin Celsius-Fahrenheit Fahrenheit-Celsius

K = [C] + 273.15 F = [C] 9 5 + 32 C = ([F] 32) 5 9 )

Work Examples
The Earths moon rotates about its axis once every 29 days, so that day and
night on the moon last about two weeks each. The moons surface can reach a
daytime temperature of 117C. What is this temperature in degrees Fahrenheit
and in Kelvin?

Here is the Solution

We are required to convert from degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit and to

Kelvin. Use the formula in converting Celsius to Fahrenheit, then plug in the
given and calculate.

To convert from degrees Celsius to Kelvin, simply use the formula in convert-
ing Celsius to Kelvin and plug in the given, and calculate.