UNITS AND MEASUREMENT
CHAPTER 1
UNITS
- Measurement of any physical quantity involves comparison with a certain basic, arbitrarily
chosen, internationally accepted reference standard, called unit.
- The result of a measurement of a physical quantity is expressed by a number (or numerical
measure) accompanied by a unit.
- The units for the fundamental or base quantities are called fundamental or base units.
- The units of all other physical quantities can be expressed as combinations of the base units.
Such units obtained for the derived quantities are called derived units.
- A complete set of these units, both the base units and derived units, is known as the system
of units.
- Measurement is the comparison of a quantity with a standardised quantity.
THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS
The base units for length, mass and time in these systems were as follows:
In CGS system they were centimetre, gram and second respectively.
In FPS system they were foot, pound and second respectively.
In MKS system they were metre, kilogram and second respectively.
The system of units which is at present internationally accepted for measurement is the Système
Internationale d’ Unites (French for International System of Units), abbreviated as SI.
It is developed by The International Bureau of Weights and Measures.
In SI, there are seven base units –
BASE QAUNTITY NAME SYMBOL
Length Metre m
Mass Kilogram Kg
Time Seconds s
Amount of Substance Mole mol
Electric Current Ampere A
Luminous Intensity Candela cd
Temperature Kelvin K
Besides the seven base units, there are two more units that are defined for
(a) Plane angle dθ as the ratio of length of arc ds to the radius r. SI unit – Radian (rad)
(b) Solid angle dΩ as the ratio of the intercepted area dA of the spherical surface, described
about the apex O as the centre, to the square of its radius r. SI unit – Steradian (sr).
Note - When mole is used, the elementary entities must be specified. These entities may be atoms,
molecules, ions, electrons, other particles or specified groups of such particles.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
The result of measurement should be reported in a way that indicates the precision of measurement.
Normally, the reported result of measurement is a number that includes all digits in the number that
are known reliably plus the first digit that is uncertain.
The reliable digits plus the first uncertain digit are known as significant digits or significant figures.
(a) A choice of change of different units does not change the number of significant digits or
figures in a measurement.
RULES-
- All the non-zero digits are significant.
- All the zeros between two non-zero digits are significant, no matter where the decimal point
is, if at all.
- If the number is less than 1, the zero(s) on the right of decimal point but to the left of the
first non-zero digit are not significant.
- The terminal or trailing zero(s) in a number without a decimal point are not significant.
- The trailing zero(s) in a number with a decimal point are significant.
- The power of 10 is irrelevant to the determination of significant figures. However, all zeroes
appearing in the base number in the scientific notation are significant
- For a number greater than 1, without any decimal, the trailing zero(s) are not significant.
- For a number with a decimal, the trailing zero(s) are significant.
- The digit 0 conventionally put on the left of a decimal for a number less than 1 (like 0.1250)
is never significant.
(b) To remove such ambiguities in determining the number of significant figures, the best way is
to report every measurement in scientific notation (in the power of 10).
(c) The multiplying or dividing factors which are neither rounded numbers nor numbers
representing measured values are exact and have infinite number of significant digits
(d) In multiplication or division, the final result should retain as many significant figures as are
there in the original number with the least significant figures.
(e) In additions or subtraction, the final result should retain as many decimal places as are there
in the number with the least decimal places.
DIMENSIONS OF PHYSICAL QUANTITIES
The nature of a physical quantity is described by its dimensions. All the physical quantities
represented by derived units can be expressed in terms of some combination of seven fundamental
or base quantities.
DIMENSIONS-
The dimensions of a physical quantity are the powers (or exponents) to which the base quantities are
raised to represent that quantity.
Note - Using the square brackets [-] round a quantity means that we are dealing with ‘the
dimensions of’ the quantity.
Note - In this type of representation, the magnitudes are not considered.
DIMENSIONAL EQUATION-
An equation obtained by equating a physical quantity with its dimensional formula is called the
dimensional equation of the physical quantity.
The principle of homogeneity of dimensions-
According to this principle inly the similar quantities (same dimensions) can be added or subtracted.
Special functions, such as the trigonometric, logarithmic and exponential functions must be
dimensionless. A pure number, ratio of similar physical quantities, such as angle as the ratio
(length/length), refractive index as the ratio (speed of light in vacuum/speed of light in medium) etc
also have no dimensions.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE-
Thus, a dimensionally correct equation need not be actually an exact (correct) equation, but a
dimensionally wrong (incorrect) or inconsistent equation must be wrong
1Å = 10-10 m
1nm = 10-9 m
1pm = 10-12 m
1Fermi = 10-15 m
Practical units for macroscopic world-
I light year = 9.46 X 1015 m
1 Astronomical Unit (Au) = 1.5 X 1011 m
1 Parsec = 3.1 X 1016 m
DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS-
N1 X U1 = N2 X U2
N2 = N1 [M1/M2]a [L1/L2]b [T1/T2]C
DIMENSIONAL FORMUA OF PHYSICSL QUANTITY-
QUANTITY UNIT DIMENSIONAL
FORRMULA
Speed/Velocity m/s [L1T-1]
Area m2 [L2]
Acceleration due to gravity m/s2 [LT-2]
(g)
Impulse (Force X Time) N sec or Kg m/sec [MLT-1]
Volume m3 [L3]
Density Kg m-3 [M1L-3]
Linear momentum Kg m/s [MLT-1]
Acceleration m/s2 [LT-2]
Pressure (Force/Area) Newton/m (or) Kg m-1/sec2 [ML-1 T-2]
Universal Gravitational Nm2 / kg2 [M-1 L3 T-2]
constant (G)
Work (Force X Kg m2/sec2 [M1L2T-2]
displacement)
Energy / Heat Kg m2/sec2 [M1L2T-2]
Power (work/time) Watt or Joule/second [M1L2T-3]
Specific Gravity or Relative Unit Less -
Density
Force N or Kg m/s2 [MLT-2]
Thrust (force) N or Kg m/s2 [MLT-2]
Tension (force) N or Kg m/s2 [MLT-2]
Surface Tension N/m [MT-2]
(force/length)
Surface energy (energy) Kg m2/sec2 [M1L2T-2]
Stress (force/area) N/m2 [M1L1T-2]
Strain (Change in Unit Less -
dimension/ Original
Dimension)
Moment of Inertia (mr2) Kg m2 [ML2]
Inertia Kg m2 [ML2]
Angular Displacement (Θ = Dimensional Less -
L/r)
Angular Velocity (Θ/t) Rad/sec [T-1]
Coefficient of Elasticity N/m2 [M1L-1T-2]
(stress/strain)
Torque (F X r) Nm [M1L2T-2]
Velocity Gradient Sec-1 [T-1]
(velocity/displacement)
Pressure Gradient (P/D) Pa/m [M1L-2T-2]
Frequency Hertz or sec-1 [T-1]
Wavelength m [L]
Refractive Index Unit Less -