PHY 001: Mechanics and Properties of matter F. O.

Ugbede

Contents

1. Physical quantities and units

- Definition of Units,
- Unit Conversion and Measurements,
- Methods of Measuring Length, Mass and Time.
- Basic and Derived Units, Dimensional Analysis.

2. Vectors
- Addition and Subtraction of Vectors,
- Resolution of Vectors.
- Vector Multiplication,
- Vectors in Cartesian Coordinate System.

3. Kinematics
- Types of Motion
- Linear Motion
- Graphs of kinematic equations.
- Average and instantaneous speed, velocity and acceleration.
- Motion in two and three dimensions.
- Relative motion in one and two dimensions,
- Free Fall, and Projectile Motion.

4. Dynamics
- Newton’s Laws of Motion,
- Types of Force,
- Frictional force,
- Equilibrium of Forces,
- Motion in inclined planes,
- Centre of Mass and Centre of Gravity,
- Moment of a Force,
- Linear Momentum and its Conservation Laws,
- Elastic and Inelastic Collisions.
- Collision in two Dimensions.

5. The Gravitational Field

- Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation,
- Field Strength, G and its Measurement,
- Gravitational Potential,
- Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion,
- Satellite Motion and Escape Velocity.

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PHY 001: Mechanics and Properties of matter F. O. Ugbede

1. Physical quantities and units

1.1 Meaning of Physical quantities
A physical quantity is any property of a material or system that can be quantified or measured and assign a unit.

Examples are length, mass, temperature, width, velocity, time, force, acceleration, power, etc

For example, is a student should say the table/desk is 0.7 meters high, it means that the table’s height is equal to 0.7
(quantification) times 1 meter (assigned unit).

Physical quantities are classified into two, namely; Fundamental quantities and Derived quantities.

Fundamental or basic quantities:

They are basic quantities that cannot be expressed in terms of other physical quantities. They are also referred to as
basic quantities.

The units of these fundamental quantities are called fundamental or basic units.

Examples of these fundamental quantities and their fundamental units are given in this Table 1.1 below.

Table 1.1: Fundamental quantities

S/N Fundamental quantity Fundamental Unit
1 Length (L) Meter (m)
2 Mass (m) Kilogram (kg)
3 Time (t) Second (s)
4 Electric current (I) Ampere (A)
5 Temperature (T) Kelvin (K)
6 Amount of substance (n) Mole (mol)
7 Luminous intensity (I) Candela (cd)

Derived quantity:
They are quantities that are obtained by combining two or more fundamental basic quantities according to simple
physical laws mathematical operations.

The units of these derived quantities are called derived units. They are units obtained simple combination of two or
more of fundamental units.

Examples are given in Table 1.2 below.

Table 1.1: Derived quantities

Derived Quantity Combination of base quantities SI Unit
involved
Area Length × length square meter ⟹ m²
Volume Length × length × length cubic meter ⟹ m³
Frequency 1 Per second ⟹ s–1
time/period
Speed length meter per second ⟹ ms–1
time
Velocity length meter per second ⟹ ms–1
time
Acceleration velocity meter per second squared ⟹ ms–2
time
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PHY 001: Mechanics and Properties of matter F. O. Ugbede

Force Mass × acceleration Kilogram meter per second squared ⟹

kgms–2 ⟹ Newton (N)
Density mass Kilogram per meter cube ⟹ kgm–3
volume
Momentum Mass × velocity Kilogram meter per second ⟹ kgms–1
Pressure force Kgm–1s–2 ⟹ Nm–2 ⟹ Pascal (Pa)
area
Energy and Work force × distance Kgm–2s–2 ⟹ Nm ⟹ Joule (J)
Power work / time Kgm–2s–3 ⟹ J s–3 ⟹ Watt (W)
Electric Charge current × time Amper second ⟹ Coulomb ⟹ C

1.2 System of Units

The widely used system of units is the International System of Units also known as the Système International d’Unités
(SI). The SI units is a modern measuring metric system that is based on the standard of meter-kilogram and second
(MKS). In this SI system, the units of mass is the kilogram, length is meter and time is second. One unique advantage of
the SI system is that it is universally acceptable, and can easily be converted.

Kilogram: it is defined to be the mass of a particular cylinder of platinum–iridium alloy kept at the International Bureau
of Weights and Measures at Sèvres, near Paris

Meter: The meter (m) is the distance that light travels in vacuum in 1/299,792,458 second

Second: One second is defined as the time required for 9,192,631,770 cycles of radiation in cesium-133 atom.

Unit prefixes:
There exist multiples and submultiples of units for the same physical quantities relating to the SI units. These are called
unit prefixes. The unit prefixes are related to the SI units by multiples of 10 or 1/10. For example, centimeter is unit of
length and is related to the meter by a factor of 1/102.

Examples of some units prefixes are given in Table 1.3.

Table 1.3: Units Prefixes

Prefix Multiplier/factor Example
Exa (E) 1018 1 EW =
Peta (P) 1015 1 Pm =
Tera (T) 10¹² 1 Tm =
Giga (G) 10⁹ 1 GW =
Mega (M) 10⁶ 1 MJ =
Kilo (k) 10³ 1 km =
Hecto (h) 102 1 hm =
Deka (da) 10 1
1 das =
Deci (d) 10–1 1 dm =
Centi © 10⁻² 1 cm =
Milli (m) 10⁻³ 1 mm =
Micro (µ) 10⁻⁶ 1 µs =
Nano (n) 10⁻⁹ 1 nm =
Pico (p) 10⁻¹² 1 ps =
Femto (f) 10 –15
1 fm =
Atto (a) 10–18 1 as =

Units consistency and conversion:

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PHY 001: Mechanics and Properties of matter F. O. Ugbede

Equations are used to express the relationships between physical quantities, which involves algebraic symbols. An
equation must always be unit consistent throughout.

Two terms may be added, subtracted or equated if and only if they have the same units or consistent in units.

For example, if we say, distance = speed × time.

We have to check if the units is consistent for this equal to be true. That is the sum units on left must be equal to that on
the right. So,

Unit of distance = m
Unit of speed = m/s
Unit of time = s
m
This means, m= ×s=m
s

The following is a simple rule to note in units conversion.

1. Converting from a larger units to smaller unit, multiply the quantity (value) by the units multiplier/factor
2. Converting from a smaller units to larger unit, divide the quantity (value) by the units multiplier/factor

Examples

1. Convert 4 m to cm.

Here, m is a larger unit than cm. so 4 is to be multiplied by the factor of 102.

That is, 4 m = 4 × 102 = 400 cm

2. Convert 500 g to kg.

Here, g is a smaller unit than kg. so 500 is to be divided by the factor of 103.
That is, 500 g = 500/103 = 0.5 kg

1.3 Dimension and dimensional analysis in physics

Dimensions refer to how physical quantities are related or depended on the base quantities of mass (M), length (L),
and time (T). The dimensions of some physical quantities are given in Table 1.4

Table 1.4: Dimensions of physical quantities

Derived Quantity Combination of base quantities Dimensions
involved
Area Length × length L×L ⟹ L2
Volume Length × length × length L×L×L ⟹ L3
Frequency 1 T–1
time/period
Speed, velocity length L/T ⟹ LT–1
time
Acceleration velocity 𝐿𝐿
⟹ LT–2
𝑇𝑇×𝑇𝑇
time
Force Mass × acceleration 𝐿𝐿
M×𝑇𝑇×𝑇𝑇 ⟹ MLT–2

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PHY 001: Mechanics and Properties of matter F. O. Ugbede

Density mass 𝑀𝑀
⟹ ML–3
volume 𝐿𝐿×𝐿𝐿×𝐿𝐿
Momentum Mass × velocity M×T
L
⟹ MLT–1
Pressure force MLT–2/L2 ⟹ ML–1T–2
area
Energy and Work force × distance MLT–2 ×L2 ⟹ ML3T–2
Power work / time
Electric Charge current × time

Dimensional analysis:
Dimensional analysis is a concept in physics that is used to study the relationships between different physical quantities
by analyzing and identifying their base dimensions.

Dimensional analysis is based on the principle that physically meaningful equation must be dimensionally correct and
consistent. This means that for any physical equations to be correct, the dimensions of both sides of the equation must
be the same.

Some applications/importance of dimensional analysis are;

1. It is used to check the dimensional consistency of equations:

Dimensional analysis is used check whether a physical equation is dimensionally correct. In this way, the dimensions of
the left-hand side (LHS) must equal that on the right-hand side (RHS), then the equation is dimensionally correct.

1
E.g. 𝑠𝑠 = 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 + 𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡 2
2

LHS s=L
RHS
ut = LT–1 × T = L
1 1
𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡 2 = 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 −2 × 𝑇𝑇 2 = 𝐿𝐿
2 2
1
𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 + 𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡 2 = 𝐿𝐿 + 𝐿𝐿 = 2𝐿𝐿
2

LHS = RHS

1
Check for 𝐾𝐾. 𝐸𝐸 = 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 2
2

2. Used to derive or verifying physical formulas:

Dimensional analysis is used to determine the form of relationships between physical quantities, especially when the
exact equation is unknown.

E.g. given the empirical equation of the period a simple pendulum, 𝑇𝑇 = 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿𝑎𝑎 𝑔𝑔𝑏𝑏 , where T, L and g are period, length and
acceleration due to gravity, and k, a and b are dimensionless constants. Find the correct form of this equation.

𝑇𝑇 = 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿𝑎𝑎 𝑔𝑔𝑏𝑏

LHS T=T
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PHY 001: Mechanics and Properties of matter F. O. Ugbede

RHS 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿𝑎𝑎 𝑔𝑔𝑏𝑏 = 𝑘𝑘 × 𝐿𝐿𝑎𝑎 × (𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 −2 )𝑏𝑏

= 𝑘𝑘 × 𝐿𝐿𝑎𝑎 × 𝐿𝐿𝑏𝑏 × 𝑇𝑇 −2𝑏𝑏 = 𝑘𝑘 × 𝐿𝐿𝑎𝑎+𝑏𝑏 × 𝑇𝑇 −2𝑏𝑏
Equate both sides; 𝑇𝑇 1 = 𝑘𝑘 × 𝐿𝐿𝑎𝑎+𝑏𝑏 × 𝑇𝑇 −2𝑏𝑏
1
1 = −2𝑏𝑏, ⟹b=−
2
1
0 = 𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏 ⟹ 𝑎𝑎 = −𝑏𝑏 =
2
1 1
𝐿𝐿
𝑇𝑇 = 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿2 𝑔𝑔−2 = 𝑘𝑘�
𝑔𝑔

3. It is used for units conversion and consistency of units in equations:

Dimensional analysis ensures unit conversion are done correctly

4. Used to predict behaviors of physical quantities in experiment:

When direct experimentation seems too difficult or impossible, dimensional analysis helps make predictions about the
behaviors of the quantities involved.

5. Used to establish or formulate new relationships between physical quantities:

Other applications also exist.

1.4 Measurements of Length, Mass and Time