Chapter 1

1.1 Time and Distance

In this section, you will learn about two fundamental properties of the universe: time and distance.
Learning about how things change with time motivates much of our study of nature. We are born and
our bodies change as time passes. The steady forward movement of time creates a present, a past, and a
future.
Another important quality of the universe is that it has three dimensions. To observe and learn about
objects, their sizes, and their motion in the universe, we need units of length. Common measures for
length are inches and meters. Other units of length are used for very small distances like atomic sizes
and very large distances like those between cities.

Two ways to think about time

Figure 1.1: The flow of time is an

important part of our experience of
life. To understand nature we need to
investigate how things change with
time.

What time is it? There are two ways we think about time (figure 1.2). One meaning for time is to
identify a particular moment. If we ask What time is it? we usually want to
know time relative to the rest of the universe and everyone in it. For example, 3:00
PM, Eastern Time, on April 21 tells the time at a certain place on Earth.
How much time? Another meaning for time is a quantity, or interval of time. The question How
much time? is asking for an interval of time with a beginning and end. For
example, we might measure how much time has passed between the start of a race
and when the first runner crosses the finish line.

How is time For most of physical science we measure and record time in seconds. Some other
measured? units of time you may see are hours, minutes, days, and years. Choose the unit
most suited to the time you want to measure. Short races are best measured in
seconds while the age of a person is best measured in years.

Figure 1.2: There are two different

ways to understand time.

1.1 Time and Distance

Chapter 1
Time comes Many calculations require that time be expressed in seconds. However, seconds
in mixed units are very short. Hours and minutes are more convenient for everyday time
measurement. As a result, time intervals are often in mixed units, such as 2
minutes and 15 seconds. If you have a time interval that is in mixed units you will
have to convert it to seconds before doing calculations. Table 1.1 gives some
useful relationships between units of time.
Table 1.1: Some units for time
Time Unit
1 second
1 minute
1 hour
1 day
1 year
1 century

How Many Seconds

1
60
3,600
86,400
31,557,600
3,155,760,000

How Many Days

0.0001157
0.00694
0.0417
1
365.25
36,525

Why we have How many seconds have there been since you were born? From the table you
different units for should see that for every year there are 31,557,600 seconds. To give your age in
time seconds would be silly. The number would be too big and change too fast. Years is
a better unit for describing peoples ages.
How do you read Most timing equipment (including digital timers) displays time in three units:
a timer? hours, minutes, and seconds. Colons separate the units into hours, minutes, and
seconds. The seconds number may have a decimal that shows fractions of a
second. To read a timer you need to recognize and separate out the different units.
Figure 1.3 shows a timer display that reads 1 hour, 26 minutes, and 31.25 seconds.
How do you To convert a time to seconds you have to first separate out all the different units.
convert to For physics problems, the starting units will often be hours, minutes, and seconds.
seconds? Follow the list below to convert any amount of time to seconds.
1 Separate the total time into the amount of time in each unit.
2 Convert each separate quantity of time to seconds.
3 Add all the seconds.

Figure 1.3: Electronic timers

have displays that show mixed units.
Colons (:) separate the units.

Example:
Convert the time in figure 1.3 to
seconds.

Solution:
Separate time into each unit.
1 hour
26 minutes
31.25 seconds
Convert each different unit into
seconds.
1 hour 3,600 seconds/hour =
3,600 seconds
26 minutes 60 seconds/minute =
1,560 seconds
Then add all the seconds.
3,600.00
1,560.00
+ 31.25
5,191.25 seconds

Chapter 1

Measuring distance
Distance is Distance describes how far it is from one point to another. Distance is measured in units of length. Like other
measured in units measurements, distance always has a number and a unit. It is hard to say precisely how far something has moved
of length without units. It would be silly to ask someone to walk 25. They would ask, Twenty-five what? There is a big
difference between 25 feet and 25 miles! Without units, distance measurements are meaningless.
There are two There are two common systems of units that are used for measuring distance. You need to understand both systems.
common systems The English system uses inches, feet, and miles. The metric system uses millimeters, centimeters, meters, and
kilometers.

1.1 Time and Distance

Chapter 1

Why are there so many different ways to measure the same thing?
Why units were Units were invented so people could communicate amounts to each other. For
invented example, suppose you want to buy 10 feet of rope. The person selling the rope
takes out a ruler that is only 10 inches long (instead of 12 inches) and counts out
10 lengths of the ruler. Do you get your moneys worth of rope? Of course not! For
communication to be successful, everyones idea of one foot (or any other unit of
measure) must be the same. Figure 1.4 illustrates a hot dog vendor trying to sell a
foot-long hot dog that is only 10 inches long. If the girl were to buy a hot dog,
would she be getting what the sign says that she is paying for?
Scientists use Almost all fields of science use metric units because they are so much easier to
metric units work with. In the English system, there are 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, and
5,280 feet in a mile. In the metric system, there are 10 millimeters in a centimeter,
100 centimeters in a meter, and 1,000 meters in a kilometer. Factors of 10 are
easier to remember than 12, 3, and 5,280. The diagram below will help you get a
sense for the metric units of distance.

We use units In your life, and in this book, we use both English and metric units. We measure
every day some quantities, like power and wavelength, in metric units. We measure other
quantities, like weight and speed, in both metric and English units. Science
measurements are always metric, but you may use units of pounds and miles per
hour in your daily experience. In many other countries, people use metric units for
everyday measurements.

Figure 1.4: The hot dog vendor

and the girl have different ideas about
how long a foot is.

Figure 1.5: In 1791, a meter was

defined as 1/10,000,000 of the
distance from a pole of Earth to its
equator. Today the meter is defined
more accurately using wavelengths of
light.