CHAPTER 1

PHYSICAL QUANTITIES AND

UNITS

PHYSICAL QUANTITIES
Base Quantities and Derived
Quantities

Base Quantities

Physical quantities are quantities

that can be measured.

Base Quantities

A physical quantity can be represented by a

symbol of the quantity, a numerical value for the
magnitude of the quantity and the unit of
measurement of the quantity.

Length, l = 1.67 m
l - symbol

1.67is the value

m - unit

Base Quantities

Base quantities are physical quantities that

cannot be defined in terms of other
quantities.

Base quantity :
Derived quantity :
Length
Area = length x length

Units

SI (Systme Internationale) Units:

mks: L = meters (m), M = kilograms (kg), T

= seconds (s)

cgs: L = centimeters (cm), M = grams (g), T

= seconds (s)

British Units:

Inches, feet, miles, pounds, slugs...

We will switch back and forth in stating problems.

Base Quantities and Units

Table shows common base quantities and their respective SI units.

Quantity
Length
Mass
Time
Electric
Current
Temperatu
re
Amount of
substance
Luminous
intensity

Dimensio
n
L
M
T
I

Unit (SI)

Symbol

meter
kilogram
second
Ampere

m
kg
S
A

kelvin

mole

mol

candela

cd

Derived Quantities
Derived quantities are physical quantities derived
from base quantities by multiplication or division or
both. The unit for a derived quantity is known as a
derived unit.
Table 1.2 shows some examples of derived quantities
and their corresponding derived units. Several
derived units are complex. Special names are
substituted for these units. For example, the unit for
the derived quantity, force, is the newton (N).

Derived Quantities & Units

Some SI derived units

Quantity

Dimensions

SI units

Common name

Area

length length

m2

square meter

Velocity

length/time

m/s

Density

mass/volume

kg/m3

Frequency

cycles/time

s-1

Acceleration

velocity/time

m/s2

Force

mass acceleration

kg m/s2

Newton (N)

Work, Energy, Heat

force distance

kg m2/s2

Joule (J)

Pressure

Force / Area

kg m-1s-2

Pascal (Nm-2)

hertz (Hz)

Unit Dimensions

10

Fundamental UnitsDimentions
Length [L]

Foot
Meter - Accepted Unit
Furlong

Time [T]

Second - Accepted Unit

Minute
Hour
Century

Mass [M]

Kilogram - Accepted Unit

Slug
11

Derived Units

Single Fundamental Unit

Area = Length Length
Volume = Length Length Length

[L]2
[L]3

Combination of Units
Velocity = Length / Time
[L/T]
Acceleration = Length / (Time Time) [L/T2]
Jerk = Length / (Time Time Time)
[L/T3]
Force = Mass Length / (Time Time) [M L/T2]

12

Unit Conversion

Useful Conversion Factors:

1
1
1
1

inch = 2.54
m = 3.28
mile = 5280
mile = 1.61

cm
ft
ft
km

Example: convert miles per hour to meters per second:

mi
mi
ft
1 m
1 hr
m
1
1 5280

0.447
hr
hr
mi 3.28 ft 3600 s
s
13

Orders of Magnitude

Physical quantities span an immense range

Length

size of nucleus
size of universe

Time

nuclear vibration ~ 10-20 s

age of universe ~ 1018 s

Mass

electron
universe

~ 10-15 m
~ 1030 m

~ 10-30 kg
~ 1028 kg

14

Physical Scale

Orders of Magnitude Set the Scale

Atomic Physics ~ 10-10 m

Basketball ~ 10 m
Planetary Motion ~ 1010 m

Knowing the scale lets us guess the Result

Q: What is the speed of a 747?

Distance - New York to LA

4000 mi

Flying Time

6 hrs

= 660 mph

15

Dimensional Analysis

Fundamental Quantities

Length - [L]

Time

- [T]

Mass

- [M]

Derived Quantities

Velocity - [L]/[T]

Density

- [M]/[L]3

Energy

- [M][L]2/[T]2

16

Physical Quantities

Must always have dimensions

Can only compare quantities with the same
dimensions

v
=
v(0) +
a t

[L]/[T] = [L]/[T] + [L]/[T]2 [T]

Comparing quantities with different

dimensions is nonsense
v
=
a t2
[L]/[T] = [L]/[T]2 [T]2 = [L]

17

Scientific Notation
1 Scientists have developed a shorter method of
expressing very large or very small numbers. This
method is called scientific notation or standard
form.

Distance from house to school : 5 000 m

Scientific Notation
2 Scientific notation is based on powers
of the base number 10. The scientific
notation in standard form is written as:

A x 10n
where
(a) 1 A < 10 and A can be an integer or decimal
number.
(b) n is a positive integer for a number greater than
one or a negative integer for a number less than
one.

Prefixes
Prefixes are the preceding factor used
to represent very small and very large
physical quantities in SI units.

Prefixes are used to simplify the

description of physical quantities that
are either very big or very small.
It is not easy to figure out a distance
of 100 000 mm. Neither it is easy to
imagine the size of an atom which
has a radius of 0.0000005 m.

Prefixes