LECTURE NOTE 2025 - PHYSICS [FIRST YEAR]

UNITS & MEASUREMENTS

Measurement of a physical quantity is the comparison with a standard value of the same kind is called
the unit of that quantity. The process of measurement of a physical quantity involves,
1) selection of unit (u)
2) to find out the no. of times that unit is contained in the given physical quantity. It is called the numerical
value OR magnitude of the quantity (n)
 Any measurement (X) can be represented as the product of numerical value and unit

X  nu
Fundamental and Derived units
The physical units which can neither be derived from one another, nor they can be further resolved in
to more simpler units are called fundamental units
eg. metre, kg, second
All other physical units which can be expressed in terms of fundamental units are called derived units.
1
eg. ms , kg ms
2
 N
System of Units
A complete set of units which is used to measure all kinds of fundamental and derived quantities are
called system of units
1) CGS system - centimetre, gram, second
2) FPS system - foot, pound, second
1 foot = 0.3048 m
1 pound = 0.4536 kg
3) MKS system - metre, kg, second
4) SI system - (International system of units)
Basic SI units Supplementary SI units
Length - metre (m) Plane angle - radian (rad)
Mass - kilogram (kg) Solid angle - steradian (sr)
Time - second (s)

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Temperature - kelvin (K)

Electric current - ampere (A)
Luminous intensity - candela (Cd)
Amount of substance - mole (mol)
SI prefixes for powers of ten

101 - deca (da) 101 - deci (d)

10 2 - hecto (h) 102 - centi (c)

103 - kilo (k) 103 - milli (m)

106 - mega (M) 106 - micro   

109 - giga (G) 109 - nano (n)

1012 - tera (T) 1012 - pico (p)

1015 - peta (p) 1015 - femto (f)

1018 - exa (E) 1018 - atto (a)

Some common practical Units
Large distances
1) Light year (ly)
It is the distance travelled by light through vacuum in one year

1 y  9.46 1015 m

2) Astronomical Unit (Au)

It is the average distance between centre of earth and centre of Sun

1 Au  1.496 1011 m

3) Par sec (parallactic sec)

It is the distance at which an arc of length one astronomical unit subtends an angle of 1 second of arc

1 par sec  3.08  1016 m

1 par sec  3.26 y

Large Masses
1) tonne or metric ton = 1000 kg
2) quintal = 100 kg
3) Chandra Shekhar Limit (CSL) = 1.4 times the mass of sun

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 LECTURE NOTE 2025 - PHYSICS [FIRST YEAR]

Small masses
th
1 12
Atomic mass unit (amu) = It is defined as of the mass of one 6 C - atom
12

1 amu  1.66  1027 kg

Time
1) Solar day - One day (24 hour)
2) Solar year - 365.25 days
3) Lunar month - It is the time taken by the moon to complete one revolution around the earth in its orbit
4) Shake - It is the smallest practical unit of time

1 shake  108 sec

Small Areas

Barn  10 28 m 2
Order of Magnitude
The order of magnitude of a quantity means its value (in suitable power of 10) nearest to the actual
value of that quantity. Consider a no. as a 10b where a is in between 1 & 10, then a is replaced with
10 0 OR 1 if a  5 and with 101 if 5  a  10 . The resulting power of 10 at which the number is reduced
is called its order of magnitude.

Eg. 0.005289  5.289  10 3

5.289 is replaced with 10

 10  103  10 2 then its order of magnitude is –2

Dimensional Analysis
The dimensions of a physical quantity are the powers to which the units of base quantities are raised
to represent a derived unit of that quantity. It is denoted with square brackets [ ]

Eg. Force, F = ma =  M L T 
1 1 2

• The physical quantities can be added or substracted which have the same dimensions
• Special functions such as trigonometric functions, logarithmic functions, and exponential functions
must be dimensionless
• A pure number, ratio of similar physical quantities has no dimension. (Eg. Angle, refractive index,
 ,...etc)

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Different quantities having same dimension

Work  Linear momentum 

  MLT 
1

Energy  Im pulse
 
  ML T  Surface tension 
2 2
Heat
 
Torque Surface Energy   ML0 T 2 

Moment of force  Spring cons tan t 

Dimensional constants : Speed of light (C)

Gravitational constant (G)
Planks constant (h)
Dimensional variables : Area, volume, force,....
Dimensionless constants: Numbers,  , .....
Dimensionless variables : Angle, strain, specific gravity, .....
A dimensionally correct equation need not be actually a correct equation, but dimensionally wrong
equation must be wrong
Applications of Dimensional Analysis
1. Conversion of one system of units to another
This is based on the fact that magnitude of a physical quantity remains the same whatever be the
system of units.
Q = nu = constant

n1 u1  n 2 u 2

u1  M1a Lb1T1c u 2  M a2 Lb2 T2c

n1u1
n2 
u2

a b c
M  L  T 
n 2  n1  1   1   1 
 M 2   L 2   T2 

Eg. Convert 1 N to dyne (CGS system)

 F   M1L1T 2  . Here a = 1, b = 1, c = –2
In SI system M1 = kg, L1 = m, T1 = sec
In CGS system M2 = g, L2 = cm, T2 = sec
n1 = 1 n2 = ?

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 LECTURE NOTE 2025 - PHYSICS [FIRST YEAR]

1 1 2
 kg  m s 
n2  1   cm   s 
g

103 g  102 cm 
=   
 g   cm 

n 2  105 1N  105 dyne

2. Checking the correctness of an equation
(Principle of homogeneity dimensions)
According to this principle, when a relation is dimensionally correct, then the dimensions of all the
terms in that relation are equal

1 2
Eg. S  ut  at
2

1 2
s    ut    at
 2 
3. To derive the relationship among various physical quantities
Using the principle of homogeneity of dimension we can derive the formula of a physical quantity.
Eg. Derive an expression for the time period (T) of a simple pendulum depends mass (m), length (  )
and acceleration due to gravity (g)

Let T  ma bgc

T  K ma bgc

 M 0 L0T1   M a Lb  LT 2 
c

M 0 L0 T1  M a Lb  c T 2c
Applying the homogeneity of dimension
a = 0, b + c = 0, –2c = 1

1 1
a = 0, c   , b
2 2
1 1
 T  KM 0  2 g 2


TK k  2
g


T  2
g

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Limitations
1. If a quantity depends on more than three factors having dimensions, the formula cannot be derived
2. The method of dimensions cannot be used to derive an exact form of relation, when it consists of
more than one part on any side

1 2
eg. S  ut  at
2
3. It gives us no information about the dimensionless constants in the relation eg.  ,1,2...
4. We cannot derive the formula containing trigonometrical function, exponential function, logarithmic
function, etc. which are dimensionless
Significant Figures
In all instrumental values, last digit remains uncertain and the rest of the digits are certain or reliable
digits. The total number of certain digits along with first uncertain digit gives the number of significant
digits.
In an instrumental value all nonzero digits, trapped zeros, and terminal zero’s in a number with decimal
point are measured as significant digits.
The insignificant digits are terminal zero’s without a decimal point, the zero’s on the right of decimal
point (to the left of Ist non-zero digit in a number less than one), and the power of 10.
• Change of units does not change the no. of significant figures in a measurement
• The multiplying or dividing factors are exact values, they have infinite no. of significant figures as per
the situation
ROUNDING OFF
1) If the digit to be dropped is smaller than 5, then the preceeding digit is left unchanged
2) If the digit to be dropped is greater than 5, then the preceeding digit is increased by 1
3) If the digit to be dropped is 5, then the preceeding digit is increased by 1 if it is odd, and is left
unchanged if it is even
Arithmetic Operations with Significant Figures
1. In addition and subtraction, the final result should retain the same number of decimal places as that of
the original measurement with minimum number of decimal places.
2. In multiplication and division, the final result should retain the same number of significant figures as
that of the original measurement with minimum number of significant figures.
Errors in a measurement
Error in a measurement is equal to the difference between the true value and the measured value of
the quantity

Error  True value  Measured value

Let a1 , a 2 , a 3 ,..... a n are ‘n’ measured values, then the accepted true value is their average value

a1  a 2  ....a n 1 n
rmean    ai
n n i 1

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 LECTURE NOTE 2025 - PHYSICS [FIRST YEAR]

1) Absolute error   

The magnitude of the difference between the true value and the individual measured value is called
absolute error.

a1  a mean  a1

a 2  a mean  a 2

a n  a mean  a n

1 n
 Mean absolute error a mean   a i
n i 1

i.e. the final result of measurement may be written as a  a mean  a mean

2. Relative error    / Fractional error

It is the ratio of mean absolute error to the mean value of the quantity measured

a mean
a 
a mean

3. Percentage error (%)

The relative error is expressed in percent is called percentage error

a mean
%a  100%
a mean

Propagation of Errors
1. Error in sum and difference of two quantities
Z=A+ B OR Z =A– B

Z  A  B
The maximum error in the result is equal to the sum of the absolute errors in the individual quantities
2. Error in product or quotient of two quantities

Z = AB OR ZA
B

Z A B
 
Z A B

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 A B 
Z  Z   
 A B 

%Z  %A  %B
The maximum fractional error in the result is equal to the sum of their individual fractional errors.
3. Error of a quantity raised to a power

Am
ZA B m n OR Z
Bn

Z mA nB
 
Z A B

%Z  m%A  n%B
NOTE
If a value alone is given (eg.  = 7.6 cm) without specifying error then the least count of the measuring
device gives the value its absolute error

If  = 7.6 cm then   0.1 cm

If M = 12.28 kg then m  0.01 kg

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