Measurement & units

Physical quantities
Units
Range
Estimation
Standard form
Physical Quantities
• What’s the forecast for tomorrow—hot or cold?

Will the high temperature

tomorrow be 28°C, which is
very warm? Or 28°F, which is
very cold? Without the correct
units, you can’t be sure.
What makes metric units easy to use?
• The standards of measurement used in
science are those of the metric system.

All metric units are based on multiples of 10.

As a result, you can convert between units
easily.
 Math and Units
• Math- the language of Physics
• SI Units – International System
• MKS
• Meter m
• Mass kg
• Time s
• National Bureau of Standards
• Prefixes
 SI Unit Prefixes - Part I
Name Symbol Factor
tera- T 1012
giga- G 109
mega- M 106
kilo- k 103
hecto- h 102
deka- da 101
 SI Unit Prefixes- Part II

Name Symbol Factor

deci- d 10-1
centi- c 10-2
milli- m 10-3
micro- μ 10-6
nano- n 10-9
pico- p 10-12
femto- f 10-15
 The Seven Base SI Units
Quantity Unit Symbol
Length meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Temperature kelvin K
Time second s
Amount of mole mol
Substance
Luminous Intensity candela Cd
Electric Current ampere A
 Derived SI Units (examples)
Quantity unit Symbol
Volume cubic meter m3
Density kilograms per kg/m3
cubic meter
Speed meter per second m/s
Force kg m/ s2 N
Energy Joule (kg m2/s2) J
Pressure Pascal (kg/(ms2) Pa
SI Unit Prefixes for Length
Name Symbol multiplier
gigameter Gm 109
megameter Mm 106
kilometer km 103
decimeter dm 10-1
centimeter cm 10-2
millimeter mm 10-3
micrometer μm 10-6
nanometer nm 10-9
picometer pm 10-12
 Units of Length
The table below lists the prefixes in common use.

Commonly Used Metric Prefixes

Prefix Symbol Meaning Factor

mega M 1 million times larger than the unit it precedes 106

kilo k 1000 times larger than the unit it precedes 103
deci d 10 times smaller than the unit it precedes 10-1
centi c 100 times smaller than the unit it precedes 10-2
milli m 1000 times smaller than the unit it precedes 10-3
micro μ 1 million times smaller than the unit it precedes 10-6
nano n 1 billion times smaller than the unit it precedes 10-9
pico p 1 trillion times smaller than the unit it precedes 10-12
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc., or its
affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
 Units of Mass

• The mass of an object is measured in comparison to a

standard mass of 1 kilogram (kg), which is the basic SI
unit of mass.

• A kilogram was originally defined as the mass of 1 L of

liquid water at 4°C.
• A cube of water at 4°C measuring 10 cm on each edge
would have a volume of 1 L and a mass of 1000 grams
(g), or 1 kg.

• A gram (g) is 1/1000 of a kilogram; the mass of 1 cm3 of

water at 4°C is 1 g.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc., or its
affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
Measuring length
• Regular objects- Using scale/ rule or measuring tape.
• Irregular shape-
• How will you find the diameter of a pencil using thread and a ruler?
• How will you find the external diameter of a test tube using two
wooden blocks?
• Measure thickness of a wire using a ruler?
The diagram shows four identical
spheres placed between two
wooden blocks on a ruler. What is
the diameter of one sphere?
Errors coming in the measurement
• Parallax error -
Measuring volume

The diagram shows a

measuring cylinder
used to measure the
volume of a small
stone. What is the
volume of the stone?
Drops of water are dripping
steadily from a tap (faucet).
The diagram shows a
measuring cylinder which
has collected 120 drops of
water. How many drops in
total will have been
collected when the
measuring cylinder reads 10
cm3?
Error Analysis
• A measuring cylinder is used to measure the volume of a
quantity of water. Which measuring technique would not
improve the accuracy of the measurement?
reading the top of the water meniscus
 Units of Length

• For example, the prefix milli- means 1/1000 (one-

thousandth), so a millimeter (mm) is 1/1000 of a
meter, or 0.001 m.
• A hyphen (-) measures about 1 mm.

• For large distances, it is most appropriate to express

measurements in kilometers (km).

• The prefix kilo- means 1000, so 1 km equals 1000 m.

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc., or its

affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
Measurement of time A stopwatch is used
to time a runner in a
race. The diagrams
show the stopwatch
at the start and at
the end of a lap of
the race. How long
did the runner take
to finish the lap of
the race?
What is the average time for one circuit of the
track?
 Go to the following link Pendulum Lab - Periodic Motion | Simple Harmonic
Motion | Conservation of Energy - PhET Interactive Simulations

Follow the instructions and answer the below questions.

1.Use the slider in the top right to set the length to maximum (1.00 m).
2.Click and drag the pendulum to either side to make it swing.
3.How long does the pendulum take to complete one full swing? Tick
'Stopwatch' in the bottom left corner to use the stopwatch.
4.Now set the length to 0.1 m and set the gravity slider to maximum (Lots).
5.How long does the pendulum take to complete one full swing now? Is it harder
to measure? Why?
Have you found it difficult to measure the time for one of the faster swings in the
above activity?
What changes will you make in the procedure to overcome this difficulty?
Make a table to display your measurements and find out the relationship
between the time period of the pendulum and length of the pendulum.
Range of measurement
• Watch this video to know the range of length measurement.
• Depending on the size of measurement we express the measured
values in scientific notation.
• Watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwmJ5nMmigQ
Scientific Notation

M x 10n

• M is the coefficient 1<M<10

• 10 is the base
• n is the exponent or power of 10
Examples of measurement written in
Standard form
Example Number (metres) Standard form

3 x 102
Height of a skyscraper 300

3x 10-7
Length of a virus 0.0000003

3x1020
Size of a galaxy 300,000,000,000,000,000,000

3x103
Height of a mountain 3,000

3x10-14
Nucleus of an atom 0.00000000000003
Try time
• Try this to check how far you understood.
• https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-eighth-grade-math/cc-8th-
numbers-operations/cc-8th-scientific-notation/e/scientific_notation
 DENSITY
• The relationship between an object’s mass and its
volume tells you whether it will float or sink.

• This relationship is called density.

• Density is the ratio of the mass of an object to its

volume.
Density = mas
volum
s
e
 Density
• Density is an intensive property that depends only on the
composition of a substance, not the size of the sample.
• It means- 20 kg of Iron & 2 kg of Iron will have same density.
• Watch this video
• Then this & this
• Let us try this in the Lab.
• Get ready with the Lab journal.
• Now time to go for an assessment.