1.

2 Physical Quantities and

Their Units

A. Measurement of Physical Quantities.

1. A physical quantity is a quantity that can

be measured.

2. Physical quantities are measured in S.I.

units.

a. S.I. units means International System of

Units.

Base quantities.

a. Length

i. The unit metre(m) is used for measuring

length.

ii. Long distance such as the distance

between two towns are measured in
kilometres.(km)

B. Time

i. Time is measured in seconds.

ii. Other units for time are minutes, hours,

days, weeks and months

c. Mass

i. Mass is the total content of matter in an

object.

ii. Mass is measured in kilogram.

iii. Small masses are usually measured in

grams or milligrams.

iv. Large masses are measured in tonnes.

d. Temperature
i. Temperature is the degree of hotness or
coldness.
ii. The S.I. unit for temperature is Kelvin.
iii. Other units for temperature are the
metric unit degrees Celsius or degrees
Fahrenheit.
iv. Our body temperature is measured using
a clinical thermometer.
The scale on the thermometer from 32 oC to
42oC.

e. Electric current

i. Electric current is the flow of electrons.

ii. It is measured using an ammeter.

iii. Electric current is measured in ampere

Conversation of units

Reference book PG 12

B. Prefixes used in measurement

1. Prefixes are useful in expressing physical

quantities that are either too big or too small.

2. For example, the thickness of a book is

measured in centimetres where centi- is the prefix
added to metre to express a smaller value.

3. A prefix is added to change the value of the unit.

4. Hence, the value of any physical quantity can be

changed to prefix form.

Symbol and prefixes

Work examples
a. Example 1
Write 950 000 g with the kilo prefix.
Answer:

b. Example 2
Change 0.23 cm to mm.
Answer:

1.5 Measuring Tools

1.

Length is the distance between two points.

. 2.

The length of an object can be measured

using a metre rule .

. 3.
. 4.

The length of a metre rule is one metre.

distance also can be measured using

measuring tape

4. The scale on the metre rule is in

centimetres and millimetres.

a. 10 millimetres (mm) = 1 centimetre (cm)

b. 100 centimetres (cm) = 1 metre (m)

Measuring the length of an object:

a. The ruler is placed at the side of the

object to be measured.

b. To take a reading, your eye needs to be

vertically above the end of the object
(position B) as shown in.
B

c. If the position of the eye is at A or C, the

reading taken is not accurate.

d. This error is known as parallax error.

e. The length is measured by taking several

readings and the average length is then
determined.

Measuring the length of a curve:

a. Some thread and a ruler are used for measuring

the length of a curve.

b. The thread is placed along the length of the curve

PQ. The end of the curve is marked on the thread.

c. The length of the thread is later measured using

the metre rule.

d. The length of the curve is measured three times.

Then average length is determined.

e. The length of the curve PQ can also be

measured using an opisometer and a metre
rule.

Measuring temperature

thermometer

Measuring the diameter of an object

a. The inner and outer diameters of round

objects can be measured using calipers and
a ruler.

b. External calipers are used to measure the

external diameter of the object.

c. Internal calipers are used to measure the

internal diameter of the object.

INTERNAL DIAMETER

External Diameter

4. Measurement of Area

-. The S.I. unit for area is square metres (m 2).

-. A huge area can be measured in square kilometres whereas

for smaller areas are measured in square centimetres (cm 2)
and square millimetres (mm2).

a. 1 m2 = 10 000 cm2
b. 1 cm2 = 100 mm2
-. The area of objects with regular shapes are calculated using
mathematical formulae.
EX
-. The area of irregular-shaped objects can be estimated by
using graph paper

Estimating area of irregular-shaped objects

a. The shape of the object is traced on a graph

paper.

b. Tick ( ) for every complete square

(measuring 1 cm2 ) covered by the object.

c. Then tick ( ) the squares where the area is

half or more than half the area of the square.

d. The total number of ( ) on the graph paper

for the shape is counted

b) irregular object= estimate area use

graph
paper
1cm

1cm

Area=

cm2

Measuring Volume
Volume of liquid
We often need to measure the volume of
liquids.
We use a measuring cylinder, burette or
pipette to measure the volume of a
liquid.
We usually measure the volume of a liquid
in mililitres (ml).

Burette

Pipette

Measuring cylinder

Correct eye position is very important when

taking readings from the scale of a
measuring tool to avoid parallax error

How to read the volume of

liquid

VOLUME OF SOLID
volume of a solid in cubic centimetres (cm3).

Water Displacement
Method
To find the volume of a regular object
and irregular object.
In this method, the object is dropped into
a measuring cylinder. This will cause the
water level in the measuring cylinder to
rise. The water level rises because the
water in the measuring cylinder has been
displaced by the object.

y mL

x mL

The volume of water displaced = y-x

The volume of the stone = The volume of
water displaced.
= (y-x) ml = (y-x) cm3

Measuring Volume of the object

= Water displacement method
Suitable for volume of uneven object

45 ml
stone

30 ml

What is the volume of the stone?

Volume of the stone = (45 - 30)
= 15 cm3

Measuring Volume object less dance than water

55.5 cm3
45 cm
30 cm

Object x
3

load

What is the volume of x?

Volume of object x = (55.5 -45)

= 10.5cm3

Volume of
stone

WHAT IS WEIGHT?
The weight of an object is the pull of the
Earth (force of gravity) on the object.
The S.I unit of weight is Newton (N).
The weight of any object depends on the
gravitational force.
The weight of an object is obtained using a
spring balance or compression spring
balance.

spring balance

compression balance

WHAT IS MASS?
The mass of an object is the quantity of
matter in the object.
The S.I. unit of mass is kilogram (kg).
The mass of an object can be obtained
using a triple beam balance or lever
balance.

Lever balance

Triple beam balance

Electronic balance

EXERCISE 5: CAN U DIFFERENTIATE

BETWEEN MASS AND WEIGHT?
MASS

WEIGHT

CAN U DIFFERENTIATE
BETWEEN MASS AND WEIGHT?
MASS

WEIGHT

It is the amount of
matter in an
object.

It is the
gravitational pull
on an object.
Its value varies
from place to
place.

Its value is fixed.

Unit: kilogram (kg)

Unit: Newton (N)

Measured using
beam balance or
lever balance.

Measured using
spring balance or
weighing balance.

Importance of
standard units in
everyday life

The use of standard units make it easier for

people from different countries to
communicate with each other.
The use of a standard unit means a
measurement in that unit has the same
value anywhere in the world.

1. Other systems of standard units can be

converted to S.I. units and vice versa:
a. 1 inch = 2.54 cm
b. 1 foot (12 inches) = 30.48 cm
c. 1 yard (3 feet) = 0.91 m
d. 1 mile = 1.609 km
e. 1 pound = 0.45 kg
f. 1 gallon = 4.5 l