College Physics

Chapter 1
Introduction
Fundamental Quantities
and Their Dimension
 Length [L]
 Mass [M]
 Time [T]
 other physical quantities can be
constructed from these three
Units
 To communicate the result of a
measurement for a quantity, a unit
must be defined
 Defining units allows everyone to
relate to the same fundamental
amount
Systems of Measurement

 Standardized systems
 agreed upon by some authority,
usually a governmental body

 SI -- Systéme International
 agreed to in 1960 by an international
committee
Length
 Units
 SI – meter, m
 [L]

 Defined in terms of a meter – the

distance traveled by light in a
vacuum during a given time
Mass
 Units
 SI – kilogram, kg
 [M]

 Defined in terms of kilogram,

based on a specific cylinder kept at
the International Bureau of
Weights and Measures
Time

 Units
 seconds, s
 [T]

 Defined in terms of the oscillation

of radiation from a cesium atom
Approximate Values
 Various tables in the text show
approximate values for length,
mass, and time
 Note the wide range of values
 Lengths – Table 1.1
 Masses – Table 1.2
 Time intervals – Table 1.3
Prefixes
 Prefixes correspond to powers of
10
 Each prefix has a specific name
 Each prefix has a specific
abbreviation
 See table 1.4
Structure of Matter

 Matter is made up of molecules

 the smallest division that is
identifiable as a substance

 Molecules are made up of atoms

 correspond to elements
More structure of matter
 Atoms are made up of
 nucleus, very dense, contains

 protons, positively charged, “heavy”

 neutrons, no charge, about same mass
as protons
 protons and neutrons are made up of quarks
 orbited by
 electrons, negatively charges, “light”
 fundamental particle, no structure
Structure of Matter
Dimensional Analysis
 Technique to check the correctness
of an equation
 Dimensions (length, mass, time,
combinations) can be treated as
algebraic quantities
 add, subtract, multiply, divide
 Both sides of equation must have
the same dimensions
Dimensional Analysis,
cont.
 Cannot give numerical factors: this
is its limitation
 Dimensions of some common
quantities are listed in Table 1.5
 Example
A shape that covers an area A and has a
uniform height h has a volume V = Ah. Show
that V = Ah is dimensionally correct.

The units of volume, area and height are:

[V ]  L
3
[ A]  L2 [h ]  L

We then observe that

L3  L2 L or [V ]  [ A][h ]
Thus, the equation V  Ah is dimensionally correct.
 Example
Suppose that the displacement of an object is
related to time according to the expression x = Bt2.
What are the dimensions of B?

From x  Bt 2
x
we find that B 2
t
[ x] L
Thus, B has units of [B]  2 
[t ] T2
Uncertainty in
Measurements
 There is uncertainty in every
measurement, this uncertainty carries
over through the calculations
 need a technique to account for this
uncertainty
 We will use rules for significant figures
to approximate the uncertainty in
results of calculations
Significant Figures
 A significant figure is one that is reliably
known
 All non-zero digits are significant
 Zeros are significant when
 between other non-zero digits
 after the decimal point and another
significant figure
 can be clarified by using scientific notation
Operations with Significant
Figures
 Accuracy – number of significant figures
 When multiplying or dividing two or
more quantities, the number of
significant figures in the final result is
the same as the number of significant
figures in the least accurate of the
factors being combined
Operations with Significant
Figures, cont.
 When adding or subtracting, round the
result to the smallest number of
decimal places of any term in the sum
 If the last digit to be dropped is less
than 5, drop the digit
 If the last digit dropped is greater than
or equal to 5, raise the last retained
digit by 1
 Example
The speed of light is now defined to be 2.99792458
× 108 m/s. Express the speed of light to (a) three
significant figures, (b) five significant figures, and
(c) seven significant figures.

c  2.997 924 574  108 m s

(a) Rounded to 3 significant figures: c = 3.00  108
ms

(b) Rounded to 5 significant figures: c = 2.997 9  108 m s

(c) Rounded to 7 significant figures: c = 2.997 924 108 m s

 Example
A farmer measures the perimeter of a rectangular
field. The length of each long side of the rectangle is
found to be 38.44 m, and the length of each short
side is found to be 19.5 m. What is the perimeter of
the field?
The distance around is
38.44 m  19.5 m  38.44 m  19.5 m  115.88 m
but this answer must be rounded to 115.9 m
because the distance 19.5 m
carries information to only one place past the decimal.
Conversions
 When units are not consistent, you may
need to convert to appropriate ones
 Units can be treated like algebraic
quantities that can “cancel” each other
 See the inside of the front cover for an
extensive list of conversion factors
 Example:
2.54 cm
15.0 in   38.1 cm
1 in
 Example
A rectangular building lot measures 100 ft by
150 ft. Determine the area of this lot in
square meters (m2).
2
 1m 
A  w   100 ft   150 ft    1.50  10 ft  
4 2
 
 3.281 ft 

1.39  103 m 2
 Example
One cubic centimeter (1.0 cm3) of water has
a mass of 1.0 × 10–3 kg. Determine the
mass of 1.0 m3 of water.

 1.0 10 3 kg 
mass   density   volume    3   1.0 m 3

 1.0 cm 
3
3  10 cm 
2
  3 kg 
3  
  1.0  10 1.0 m    1.0  10 3
kg
 cm   1m 
Examples of various units
measuring a quantity
Order of Magnitude
 Approximation based on a number
of assumptions
 may need to modify assumptions if
more precise results are needed
 Order of magnitude is the power of
10 that applies
 Example
An automobile tire is rated to last for 50 000
miles. Estimate the number of revolutions
the tire will make in its lifetime.

A reasonable guess for the diameter of a tire might be 2.5 ft,

with a circumference of about 8 ft. Thus, the tire would make

 50 000 mi   5280 ft mi   1 rev 8 ft   3  10 7 rev , or

~10 7 rev
Coordinate Systems
 Used to describe the position of a
point in space
 Coordinate system consists of
 a fixed reference point called the
origin
 specific axes with scales and labels
 instructions on how to label a point
relative to the origin and the axes
Types of Coordinate
Systems
 Cartesian
 Plane polar
 Cartesian coordinate
system
 Also called
rectangular
coordinate system
 x- and y- axes
 Points are labeled
(x,y)
Plane polar coordinate
system
 Origin and
reference line are
noted
 Point is distance r
from the origin in
the direction of
angle , from
reference line
 Points are labeled
(r,)
Trigonometry Review

opposite side
sin  
hypotenuse
adjacent side
cos  
hypotenuse
opposite side
tan  
adjacent side
More Trigonometry
 Pythagorean Theorem
r x y
2 2 2

 To find an angle, you need the

inverse trig function
 for example,   sin
1
0.707  45
 Be sure your calculator is set
appropriately for degrees or
radians
 Example
A point is located in a polar coordinate system by
the coordinates r = 2.5 m and θ = 35°. Find the x-
and y-coordinates of this point, assuming that the
two coordinate systems have the same origin.

The x coordinate is found as

x  r cos   2.5 m  cos35  2.0 m

and the y coordinate

y  r sin    2.5 m  sin 35  1.4 m
 Example
A certain corner of a room is selected as the origin of
a rectangular coordinate system. If a fly is crawling
on an adjacent wall at a point having coordinates
(2.0, 1.0), where the units are meters, what is the
distance of the fly from the corner of the room?

The x distance out to the fly is 2.0 m and the y distance up to

the fly is 1.0 m. Thus, we can use the Pythagorean theorem to
find the distance from the origin to the fly as,

 2.0 m    1.0 m  =
2 2
d x y =
2 2 2.2 m
 Example
Express the location of the fly in example before in
polar coordinates.

The distance from the origin to the fly is r in polar

coordinates, and this was found to be 2.2 m. The angle  is
the angle between r and the horizontal reference line (the x
axis in this case). Thus, the angle can be found as

y 1.0 m
tan     0.5 and   tan 1  0.50   27
x 2.0 m
The polar coordinates are r  2.2 m and   27 
 Summary
 Equations are the tools of physics
 Understand what the equations mean
and how to use them
 Carry through the algebra as far as
possible
 Substitute numbers at the end
 Be organized