Notes from Y12 Physics – QUANTITIES, UNITS, SI SYSTEM, DIMENSIONS

1 Fundamental Quantities in Physics

All civilisations would have to arrive at a system for making measurements in physics based on
fundamental QUANTITIES. There is more than one way to do this. Our current system (the SI) uses
seven. It seems likely that the most convenient systems would see MASS, LENGTH and TIME as
fundamental.

The SI uses CURRENT rather than CHARGE as the fundamental quantity for electricity.

The others are “AMOUNT OF SUBSTANCE” (in effect a way of counting particles) which is needed for
chemistry, TEMPERATURE, and LIGHT INTENSITY.

Note that the word “quantity” in this context means “what we are measuring” rather than “how
much?”

All other quantities we require can be derived from these. Velocity and acceleration are derived
from length and time. Force is derived from mass and acceleration, and so it is effectively derived
from mass, length and time.

2a Units

Each quantity needs a UNIT. The agreed units for the seven fundamental quantities are called the
BASE UNITS. Historically, several of them have ended up with complex definitions for a mix of
historical and political reasons. It is worth being aware of the origins of a few of them. They had to
change because the definitions were not good enough, and not reproducible enough, for the needs
of post-Newtonian and post-industrial revolution physics, especially for international co-operation.

Time: the SECOND was defined as 1/86400 th of a mean solar day before changing to a definition
depending on the radiation emitted by a caesium atom in very specific circumstances.

Length: the METRE was originally 1/10,000,000 th of a line-of-longitude (great circle) distance
between the equator and the geographic north pole before changing to the distance between two
marks on a piece of metal kept securely just outside Paris.

Mass: the KILOGRAM was defined in terms of the mass of a certain volume of water under specified
conditions and “Le Grand K” was another piece of metal kept securely just outside Paris.

The last change to the definitions of the base units was made in 2019 and all current A level
textbooks are out of date. The other four for the SI system are the AMP(ERE) for current, MOLE for
amount of substance, KELVIN for temperature and CANDELA for light intensity.

The units for all other quantities are known as DERIVED UNITS, such as metres per second for
speed/velocity and kilogram metres per second squared for force. The latter is more commonly
known as the newton. The unit of electric charge is the amp second, known as the coulomb.

Unlike the quantities which have a meaning in their own right, the units are an invention of
whichever civilisation constructs them.

By 2019, the method of definition of the kilogram and the amp in particular, were problematic for
physics. Up to this point, the speed of light for example, was seen as a value that we did not know
precisely, we had just gradually measured it to more decimal places as our experiments improved.
The 2019 agreement changes the technicalities of the definitions without making a significant
everyday difference to the size and value of any of the units.
2b The 2019 SI Agreements

The values of seven constants in the equations applying to the physical universe have been fixed by
agreement. These constants are believed to be constant and permanent. The units are then
calculated from the constants, which were fixed at values which would make no everyday difference
to the size of any of the units, but would remove all the oddities and inconsistencies in the
definitions.
Fixed Value of Fundamental Constant Conventional Exact Defined Value Leads to definition of
Symbol the unit of…
Speed of e/m radiation e.g. light in c 299792458 ms-1 length (metre)
vacuum
Planck’s constant h 6.62606957 × 10-34 Js mass (kilogram)

Frequency associated with the ΔνCs 9,192,631,770 Hz time (second)

hyperfine splitting of Cs-133 atom
Magnitude of the charge on an e 1.602176565 × 10-19 C electric current (amp)
electron or proton
The Avogadro constant NA 6.02214129 × 1023 amount of substance
(mole)
The Boltzmann constant kB 1.38064852 × 10-23 JK-1 absolute temperature
(kelvin)
The luminous efficacy of Kcd 683 light intensity
monochromatic radiation of frequency (candela)
540 × 1012 Hz

3 The Dimensions of a Quantity

The DIMENSIONS of a quantity are its relationships to the fundamental quantities. For example, we
give the symbols M, L, T and I to the dimensions of mass, length, time and current. The dimensions
of speed or velocity will always be those of length divided by time, which we can show as L/T or LT-1.
Dimensions behave like indices and powers when multiplied or divided. The unit for speed or
velocity in any system will always be that system’s unit of length per that system’s unit of time. So
the dimensions, like the quantities, are fundamental and independent of the system of units. This
means that there are still some alternative units that we need to know, but all the units for any given
quantity must have the same dimensions. This opens up a technique called dimensional analysis that
some of you will cover in mathematics (mechanics).

Here are some examples:

Quantity Dimensions SI unit Other obsolete / non SI units

Volume length x length x length : L3 m3 litre
Speed or length/time : L T-1 m s-1 mph, km/hr
Velocity
Acceleration change in speed/time : L T-2 m s-2 “Nought to 60 in 5s” (mph per sec)
Force mass x accel’n : M L T-2 kg m s-2 aka N “Pound-foot per second squared”
Work/Energy force x distance : M L2 T-2 kg m2 s-2 aka J BTU (British Thermal Unit), kWh
Charge current x time : I T A s aka C
Potential energy/charge : M L I-1 T-3 kg m A-1 s-3
Difference aka V

Try for yourself: What are the dimensions and SI units of:
i) area ii) momentum iii) pressure iv) resistance v) power (mechanical) vi) power (electrical)
and what do you notice about answers (v) and (vi)?