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CHEMICAL PROCESS
PRINCIPLES
Get Started
DIMENSIONS AND UNITS
Objectives
Know the difference between units and dimensions
Understand the SI, USCS, and AES systems of
units
Know the SI prefixes from nano- to giga-
Understand and apply the concept of dimensional
homogeneity
LECTURE-1
UNITS AND DIMENSION ::
Dimensions are physical quantities like length,
mass, time which Uniquely characterizes an
object.
If say you want to measure the distance then its
dimension is the Length. For matter its mass
and for clock it’s the time
Units are used to measure this physical
quantities. Meter for example is the metric unit
for length
Dimensions
Dimension Symbol
Length [L]
Mass [M]
time [T]
force [F]
electric current [A]
absolute temperature [q]
luminous intensity [/]
Why do we need units ?
We need units because we want to measure the
Amount or quantity of some things. To make this
measurement globally acceptable we need to put some
Unique measurement value. This value is called a UNIT
Some Abbrevetions
s = second N = newton V = volt
cm = centimeter lb = pound Ω = ohm
m = meter J = joule W = watt
ft = foot Hz = hertz A = Ampere
g = gram mi = mile C = coulomb
kg = kilogram
Units can be small and big…
If you are measuring a very big quantity then you represent your
Measure with a bigger unit.
For example take length of a stick and the distance between OK
city and Stillwater. The first one you can measure with a unit as
Small as meter, What about the second one ?
If we want to measure the distance in meters(m) or foot(ft) it is
fine but it
Is going to be a very big number. Rather it will be easy to
represent the distance in tems of a bigger Unit called
KILOMETER(Km) or in MILES (miles)
How big or small can a Unit be ??
A unit can be as big as 26,000 Light years, where
1 Lightyear = Distance travelled by Light in 1 year
= 3x108 x60x60x24x365 m
= 3.942x1014 m
It’s a large distance !!!!
26,000 Light year is the distance between Sun and the
center of our Galaxy the MILKY WAY.
So we see that Light year is a very big unit as compared
to meter though they both represent length
Let us now see how small a unit can be,
If we ask the question as to what is the radius of an
Atom, the smallest unit of matter ?
The answer is a few angstrom ~ 10-8 m
Or that is ~ 0.00000001 m
Hence we see that the span of measurable quantity
having same dimension for example length can be very
Wide. So we require convenient units while measuring
big or small quantities
SYSTEMS OF UNITS
A system of units is described by:
a set of fundamental dimensions from which all other dimensions may be derived, and
a set of base units.
Base Units
Multiple Units
Derived Units
Units are of two types----
1. Metric system (European and other countries)
2. Foot-Poundal system (USA)
SI system
CGS System
American Engineering System
The International System of Units (SI)
Fundamental Dimension Base Unit
length [L] meter (m)
mass [M] kilogram (kg)
time [T] second (s)
electric current [A] ampere (A)
absolute temperature [q] kelvin (K)
luminous intensity [l] candela (cd)
amount of substance [n] mole (mol)
Derived units
Derived quantity Name Symbol
area square meter m2
volume cubic meter m3
speed, velocity meter per second m/s
acceleration meter per second squared m/s2
wave number reciprocal meter m-1
mass density kilogram per cubic meter kg/m3
specific volume cubic meter per kilogram m3/kg
current density ampere per square meter A/m2
magnetic field strength ampere per meter A/m
amount-of-substance concentration mole per cubic meter mol/m3
luminance candela per square meter cd/m2
kilogram per kilogram, which may
mass fraction kg/kg = 1
be represented by the number 1
Multiple Units
Tera (T) = 1012
Giga (G) = 109
Mega (M) = 10 6
Kilo (k) = 103
Centi (c) = 10-2
Milli (m) = 10-3
Micro (μ) = 10-6
Nano (n) =10-9
SI Prefixes
15
Supplementary SI Dimensions
Supplementary Dimension Base Unit
plane angle radian (rad)
solid angle steradian (sr)
SI System of Units
Force = (mass) (acceleration)
F=ma
W=mg
SI System of Units: Force
Force = ma
kg m
2
s
= Newton
=N
SI System of Units: Work/Energy
Work/ Energy = Force X Distance
= N.m
2
kg.m
2
s
= Joule
=J
SI System of Units: Power
Power = Work / Time
N m Joule J
s s s
kg m 2
3
= Watt
s
=W
SI System of Units: Stress/Pressure
Pressure = Force / Area
N kg m / s 2
2 2
m m
kg
ms 2
= Pascal
= Pa
U.S. Customary System of Units (USCS)
Fundamental Dimension Base Unit
length [L] foot (ft)
force [F] pound (lb)
time [T] second (sec)
Derived Dimension Unit Definition
mass [FT2/L] slug lbf sec2/ft
USCS: Force = (mass)*(acceleration)
1 lb f 1 slug ft/sec 2
F = ma
W = mg
American Engineering System of Units
(AES)
Fundamental Dimension Base Unit
length foot (ft)
mass pound (lbm)
force pound (lbf)
time second (sec)
electric charge [Q] coulomb (C)
absolute temperature degree Rankine (oR)
luminous intensity candela (cd)
amount of substance mole (mol)
American Engineering System
Note, there is a problem when we use the same unit
(“pound”, meaning lbf and lbm) to describe two
different dimensions.
Newton's Second Law: F = ma
1 lbf = 1 lbm ft/s2 ??? NO!!!
Must have consistency of units.
Consistency of Units
Principle of consistency of units:
units on the left side of an equation must be the same
as those on the right side of an equation
dimensional homogeneity
Some Exercises:
What is 1 inch in terms of a Km ?
1 liter is equal to how many meters ?
1 mile is how many meters ?
What is a light year in terms of meters ?
1 kilogram is equal to how many ounces ?
What is a milli second ?
1 pound is equal to how many grams ?
How many seconds have you lived till today on
earth ?