AMBO IFA BORU SPECIAL BOARDING SECONDARY

SCHOOL

Physics Short Notes on unit

1
For Grade 9
By: Desta Negash

November 2022
UNIT 1
and vector Quantities
 Introduction

Science is the study of nature and natural phenomena(laws)

Biological it deals with live matter. e.g Bio

Physical it deals with nonliving things. E.g phy, chem
Physics
deals with the study of properties of matter, energy and their mutual
r/ships.
Systematic study of structure & behaviors of the physical world.
Involves experimentation & measurement w/c leads to development of
theories.
 Introduction
Importance / scope of physics
 to watch any event occurring any where in the world.
(Satellite communication)
 to observe stars, galaxies & edge of the universe (telescope)
 to use radio, TV, wireless, computer, etc (electricity)
 to run vehicles on the road & fly airplane in the air(heat engine)
 to preserve food(freezers)
 for medical diagnosis(MRI, CT Scan, ultrasound, etc)
 Etc
 1.1 measurement & uncertainty
1.1.1 Making measurement
Measurement- is comparing any physical quantity with some standard unit.
Unit- standard with w/c a physical quantity is compared.
e.g meter, kilogram, second, etc
Magnitude- is a pure number with a proper unit.
e.g m = 10 kg, 10- pure number, kg- proper unit
Note
 A physical quantity always expressed interms of numerical value
(magnitude) and unit.
Physical quantity = ( numerical value) unit.
 Physics without unit is meaningless.
Q- What do you mean by physical quantity or non-physical quantity?
Physical quantity(definite)- a quantity w/c is physically measurable & observable.
e.g length, mass, etc
 1.1 measurement & uncertainty

Non-physical quantity ( indefinite)- a quantity w/c is not physically measurable

& observable.
e.g joy, fear, love, thinking, etc
Exercise!
Identify the ff quantities whether they are physical or non-physical.
a) Strong desire
b) Heavy box
c) 5 kg box
d) Deep love
e) Tall person
f) 2 m tall
 1.1 measurement & uncertainty
Physical quantities are classified on the following basis:
1) Based on their directional properties
i) scalars- w/c have only magnitude but no direction.
e.g mass, density, volume, time, etc
ii) vectors- w/c have both magnitude & direction & obeys laws of vector
algebra.
e.g displacement, force, velocity, acceleration, etc
2) Based on their dependency
ii) Fundamental or base quantities
- w/c do not depend upon other quantities for their complete definition.
e.g length, mass, time, temp., etc
ii) Derived quantities
- w/c can be expressed in terms of fundamental quantities.
e.g speed, volume, acceleration, force, pressure, etc
 Note
Physical quantities can also classified as:
i) Dimensional or dimensionless.
ii) Variables or constant.
Exercise!
Classify the quantities displacement, mass, force, time, speed, velocity,
acceleration, pressure & work under the ff categories
a) base & scalar b) derived & scalar

c) base & vector d) derived & vector

 1.1 measurement & uncertainty
System of Fundamental quantities/ base units
units
  Length Mass Time Temp. Electric Amount of Luminous
current substance intensity
FPS Foot Pound Second x x x x
CGS Centimeter Gram Second x x x x
MKS Meter kilogram Second x x x x
SI Meter Kilogram second kelvin ampere mole candela
(m) (kg) (s) (K) (A) (mol) (cd)

Note
 SI is the modification of MKS system
- besides the 3 base units of MKS system 4 fundamental & 2 supplementary units
are included in this system.
 1.1 measurement & uncertainty

While defining base units for a physical quantity the ff characteristics are considered.
i) Well defined iv) reproducibility
ii) Invariability v) convenience in use
iii) Accessibility
Q. What was the original motivation of the development of SI unit?
Ans: b/c existence of diverse units to measure the same quantity created a problem in:
- commerce
- exchanging data
- lack of coordination b/n various disciplines.
Definition of some SI units
The second: 1s is:
1st defn. is 1/86,400 of mean solar day.
2nd defn. the time required for 9,102,631,770 of steady vibration of cesium atom.
The meter: 1m is:
• 1st defn. 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the equator to the north pole.
• 2nd defn. 1,650, 763.73 wavelength of orange light emitted by krypton atoms.
• 3rd defn. is a distance light travels in vacuum 1/299,792,458 of a second.
• The mass: 1kg is:
• 1st defn. very nearly equal to the mass of 1000
• 2nd defn. the mass of platinum - Iridium cylinder kept near Paris.
• 3rd defn. equal to s (defined in term's of meter, second & plancks constant
(h))
 1.1 measurement & uncertainty
Q. Why do scientists keep redefining standards ?
Ans. - In order to create unchanging standards for its value or
- for accurate definition.
Supplementary units
In SI of units two supplementary units are defined.
i) radian (rad)- for plane angle (2D)
ii) steradian(sr)- for solid angle(3D)
Dimensions of a physical quantity
Dimensions - are the powers ( exponents) to w/c the base quantities are raised to express that
quantity.
Dimensional formula- is the expression w/c represents how & w/c of the base quantities are
included in that quantity.
- written by enclosing the symbols for base quantities with appropriate powers in square
bracket i.e [ ]
 1.1 measurement & uncertainty
 In mechanics a derived physical quantity ‘x’ can be expressed as:
[x] = [ [ [ =
e.g [v] =
[F] = i.e dimension of force are 1 in mass, 1
in length and -2 in time.
 In general the dimension of any physical quantity ‘u’ can be written as:
[u] =
e.g dimension of length = =L
dimension of density = =M
Note
 For dimensional quantity all seven powers are zero
 Dimensionless quantity are pure numbers.
The physical quantities which have:
- dimensions but do not have fixed magnitude- dimensional variables.
e.g force, energy, acceleration, etc
- dimensions & fixed magnitude- dimensional constants.
e.g speed of light in vacuum, gravitational constant, etc
- neither dimensions nor fixed magnitude- dimensionless variables.
e.g plane angle, solid angle, strain, etc
- no dimensions but have fixed magnitude- dimensionless constant.
e.g pure numbers (1, 2, 3, …),
Advantage/application of dimensional analysis
o To check the correctness of a physical equations.
o To convert a physical quantity from one system of unit to another.
o To find dimension of constants used in a relation.
o To derive a formula.
 Limitation of dimensional analysis
Formula that depends on more than three physical quantities cannot be
derived- only checked.
Used only if the dependency is of multiplication type.
Gives no information's about dimensionless constants, logarithm, trigonometry,
etc
If dimension is given, physical quantity is not unique as many of them have the
same dimension.
It gives no information whether a physical quantity is scalar or vector.
Exercise!
Check the ff equations are dimensionally correct.
SI prefixes & scientific Notation
SI prefixes
- means to assign a name to d/t powers of 10, negative or positive.
- written Infront of SI unit without space.
Why do we use prefixes ?
- b/c it is the convenient way of writing very large or very small quantities
compared with basic standard unit.
e.g thickness of piece of paper- mm (convenient), m (not conv.)
long distance b/n two cities – km (conv.), m (not conv.)
Note
Use of double prefixes is not allowed in a measurement.
Examples
Radius of hydrogen atom = 5.3
Distance b/n earth & the sun = 1.495
Mass of electron = 9.1
Mass of the Earth = 5.983
Convection used in writing SI units & names
 Full name of the unit does not begin with capital letter.
 Symbol of the unit named after the scientist has an initial capital letter.
 The combination of unit written with one space apart.
 Prefixes is written before the unit without any space.
 Scientific Notation/ Standard form
- is a way of writing large or small numbers in decimal form.
- a number is expressed in power of 10 ( called exponent) multiplied by a
number b/n 1 & 10 ( called the mantissa)
Number (N) = Mantissa (M) X
e.g a) distance b/n the moon & the earth = 384000000m = 3.84 x
b) 0.0000045 sec = 4.5 x sec
Steps for converting a given number (N) into standard form
[Link] a given number (N), move the decimal point & place it after a non-zero
digit.
[Link] the decimal point is moved from its initial position towards the:
left- the power of 10 will be positive. e.g 4500000 = 4.5 x
right- the power of 10 will be negative. e.g 0.0000045 = 4.5 x
Exercise!
1) Write the ff physical quantities in scientific notation.

2) Write the ff quantities in scientific notation & using SI prefixes.

a) 3270 g b) 0.128 m c) 65000000 W d) 0.0032 s
 Significant figures (sfs)
- is the number of accurately known digits & the first doubtful digit in a
measurement.
- is the figure w/c is able to trusted or has greater precision.
 Accurately Known digits- are those that are counted without ambiguity or any
doubt.
 Doubtful digit- digit w/c has chances of error or an estimated digit during a
measurement.
For example: three students measured the length of a book as:
18.11 cm , 18.12 cm & 18.13 cm
known digit: 18.1
doubtful digit: 1, 2 & 3
General rules for writing significant figures.
1) All non-zero digits are always significant. e.g 7645---4 sfs
2) Zero may or may not be significant depending upon its placement.
i) for a number less than 1 zero to the left of first significant digit(leading zero)
is not significant. e.g 0.00123---3 sfs, 0.057---2 sfs
ii) zero b/n two non-zero digit (internal zero) is significant. E.g 101001---6 sfs
iii) zero to the right of significant digit may or may not be significant.
a) in decimal factors, zero to the right of non-zero digit are significant.
e.g 3.570---4 sfs, 0.0500---3 sfs
b) in non-decimal factors, zero to the right of non-zero digit may or may
not be significant depending upon the least count of measuring instrument.
 measurement least count standard form significant figure/s
6000kg 1kg 6.000 4
6000kg 10kg 6.00 3
6000kg 100kg 6.0 2
6000kg 1000kg 6 1

iv) in scientific notation, figures other than power of 10 are significant figures.
N = M , M-consists of all sfs of the original numbers.
e.g 0.0000125--3 sfs = 1.25
Significant figures in calculations
Addition & subtraction
- the result obtained is rounded to the smallest number of decimal place of any term in the data.
e.g a) 44.56005 + 0.698 + 1103.2 = 1147.82985 = 1147.8
b) 12.587 – 12.5 = 0.087 = 0.1
Multiplication & Division
- the result obtained is retained/rounded to the measurement w/c has
the least significant figures in the data.
e.g a) 3.6 cm x 3.856 cm = 13.8816 14
b)
 Sources and Types of Error
Error – is the d/ce b/n the standard value and experimentally measured value.
Error = actual value – observed value ( incase of smaller reading)
= observed value – actual value ( incase of larger reading )
Types of errors
i) Personal error
Cause – inexperience of person
- negligence and carelessness of person
- wrong way of taking reading
Reduced by – taking care during the experiment.
ii) Random error (uncontrollable)
- a repeated measurement gives different values under the same circumstances.
- is unbiased small vibrations that have both positive or negative values.
Causes- unknown
Reduction – by taking several readings and then having their mean.
iii) Sytematic error (controllable)
- it gives consistent d/ce b/n different readings.
- bias every measurement in the same direction.
Causes – faulty apparatus
- zero error
- poor calibration of instrument.
Reduction – by applying zero correction, comparing our instrument with standard
instrument
 Representation of Errors
i) Absolute error (
- is the d/ce b/n true value and the individual measured value of the quantity.
Suppose a physical quantity is measured n times
Measured Value = …………
Arithmetic mean() =
if the true value is not given the mean value can be taken as true value.
 The absolute error in individual measurement are:

. . .
. . .
 The mean absolute error is given as:
(
so, if the measured value of a quantity be ‘’ and the error in a measurement be , then
the true value () can be written as:
=
ii) Relative(fractional) error
-is the ratio of mean absolute error ( to the true value or the mean value ( of the
quantity measured.
Relative error = or
iii) Percentage error
Percentage error = 100%
Note
Absolute errors may be positive or negative.
Relative error is unitless and dimensionless.
 Uncertainty in measurement
- is the amount of possible error associated with a measuring instrument.
- is a quantification of the doubt about the measurement result.
- It gives the range of values with w/c the true value is believed to lie.
- It gives some level of confidence.
Measurement = (best estimate uncertainty) unit
Example
If l = (20.1 0.1)cm, the true value believed to be closest to 20.1cm any where
b/n ( 20.1 – 0.1 ) cm & ( 20.1 + 0.1) cm. i.e b/n 20.0 cm & 20.2 cm.
The measurement about w/c we are not confident is called uncertain measurement.
Types of uncertainty
1) Absolute uncertainty
- is equal to the least count of measuring instrument.
- it is denoted by ‘
- it has the same unit as the quantity.
Accuracy and Precision
- are two distinct and independent aspects of measurement related two uncertainties.
Accuracy
- refers to the closeness of a measured value to the true( standard or known) value.
- it describes how well we eliminate systematic error.
- a single reading can be accurate.
Examples
1) If MV = 3.2 kg & TV = 10 kg
2) Who is more accurate when measuring a book that has true length of 17.0 cm?
Abdi: 17.0 cm, 16.0 cm, 18.0 cm, 15.0 cm
Bontu: 15.5 cm, 15.0 cm, 15.2 cm, 15.3 cm
Note
 Accuracy of measurement is estimated from relative/fractional/ uncertainty.
A measurement having smaller relative uncertainty will be more accurate.
Precision
- refers to the closeness of repeated measurement to each other.
- it describes how well we suppress random errors.
- multiple readings are required.
Examples
1) If MV = 3.2 kg (
2) Who is more precise when measuring a book that has true length of 17.0 cm?
Abdi: 17.0 cm, 16.0 cm, 18.0 cm, 15.0 cm
Bontu: 15.5 cm, 15.0 cm, 15.2 cm, 15.3 cm
Note
 Precision depends on the absolute uncertainty /least count of measuring
instrument.
The smaller the least count of the measuring instrument, the more precise will be
the measurement.
2) Relative uncertainty

Relative uncertainty =
- it is denoted by “
- it has no unit.
3) Percentage uncertainty
% unc. =
% unc. =
Example
Measuring instrument = metal rod
Least count = 0.1 cm
Measured value = 25.5 cm
= 0.004
% unc. = 0.004 x 100% = 0.4%
Exercise!
Let the length of the book is 15 cm w/c is measured with meter-ruler having least count 0.5
mm, on the other hand, the distance from Ambo to Finfinnee is 125 km, with speedometer
having least count 0.5 km. which measurement is a)precise? b) accurate?
Note
 Precision and accuracy are independent.
 A measurement can be:
- precise but inaccurate.
- accurate but imprecise
Accuracy vs precision
1.2 Vector Quantities
1.2 Vector Quantities
1.2 Vector Quantities
1.2 Vector Quantities
1.2 Vector Quantities
1.2 Vector Quantities
1.2 Vector Quantities
1.2 Vector Quantities
1.2 Vector Quantities
1.2 Vector Quantities
 Continued…. 1.2 Vector Quantities
Notes
 In a polygon if all the vectors are in the same order then their resultant is a null vector.
 If n vectors of equal magnitude are arranged at equal angle of separation the their resultant
is always zero vector
 2) Analytical method

 Adding vectors graphically provides limited accuracy.

 Analytical method provide a general method for adding vectors.
i) Triangle rule
 Consider vectors & shown below, the magnitude of their resultant is
analytically determined by the formula:
R
 The direction of resultant is given
by using sine law as follows:
]
Important points
i) Resultant of two vectors will be maximum when they are parallel.
i.e angle b/n them (c) is zero.
= = A+B
ii) Resultant of two vectors will be minimum when the are antiparallel.
i.e the angle b/n them is
= = A-B (Bigger- Smaller)
iii) Vector addition is commutative. i.e
iv) Vector subtraction is not commutative. i.e
v) Resultant of two vectors of equal magnitude will be at their bisector.
vi) If two vectors have equal magnitude i.e A = B = a and the angle b/n them is then their
resultant will be at the bisector of two vectors and its magnitude is
R = 2acos
Special case: if i.e R = A = B = a
 If resultant of two unit vectors is another unit vector then the angle b/n them is .
ii) Component method
Example
Example
If , = 3 & = - determine the following
a) + b) - c) - d) 2 + e) angle b/n &
Equilibrium
i) proving equilibrium graphically
 In a vector addition, if you end up where you started by adding those head-to-tail, then all
the vectors canceled out and there is no resultant vector. Then the system is in equilibrium.
 Cont……..
ii) Proving equilibrium mathematically
 If the vector sum of the horizontal forces (x-components) add up to zero and the vector
sum of the vertical forces (y-components) add up to zero, then the system is said to be in
equilibrium.
This can be written mathematically as:

 If the sums of x- and y- components independently don’t cancel out or add up to zero, then
the system is not in equilibrium.
Cont……..
Cont……..
Cont……..
 Cont……..
Some application of vectors
Vectors have many real-life applications in different fields of science. They are used:
 to calculate the volume of a parallelepiped.
 to find the work done and torque in mechanics.
 to calculate the distance between two aircrafts in the space and the angle between
their paths.
to know the direction in which the force is attempting to move the body.
in the study of electromagnetism, hydrodynamics, blood flow, rocket launching,
and the path of a satellite.
to install the solar panels by carefully considering the tilt of the roof and the
direction of the Sun so that it generates more solar power.
 to measure angles and distance between the panels in the satellites, in the
construction of networks of pipes in various industries, and in calculating angles and
distance between beams and structures in civil engineering.
 THE END !

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