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Physical Quantities and Units – Lesson 01

1. Physical Quantity
If Certain Properties in a Physical system can be measured directly or indirectly, it can be called
Physical Quantity.
 Measurement
Measurement has a Physical Quantity and a Unit, and sometimes a Direction.

 There are 03 types of Physical Quantities, they are;

i. Fundamental Quantities
ii. Supplementary Quantities
iii. Derived Quantities

i.) Fundamental Quantities and their Units

There are 07 Fundamental units as follow;

No Fundamental Quantity Unit (SI) Symbol

1. Length Meter m
2. Mass Kilogram Kg
1 3, Time Seconds S
4. Thermodynamic Temperature Kelvin K
5. Electricity Current Ampere A
6, Luminous of Light Candela Cd
7, Amount of Substance Mole mol

ii.) Supplementary Quantities and their Units

No Supplementary Quantity Unit (SI) Symbol

1. Plane Angle Radian rad

2. Solid Angle Steradian sr

iii.) Derived Quantities and their Units

Physical quantities that can be expressed in terms of Fundamental quantities are called
Derived Quantities

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No Derived Quantity Definition Unit (SI)

1. Area Length x Width m2

2. Volume Length x Width x Height m3
3, Density Mass/ Volume kg m-3
4. Velocity Displacement/time m s-1
5. Acceleration Velocity /time m s-2

Some of the derived quantities with the special names of SI units as follow;

No Derived Definition Name of Symbol In

Quantity SI Unit Fundamental
SI Unit
1. Force Mass x acceleration Newton N kg m s-2
2. Pressure Force/ Area Pascal Pa kg m-1 s-2
3, Work Force x Displacement Joule J kg m2 s-2
4. Power Work/time Watt W kg m2 s-3
5. Frequency No of Oscillation /time Hertz Hz s-1

Physical quantities which do not have units;

2  Relative Density
 Reflective Index
 Relative Permeability

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2. Dimensions
A symbolic expression of how a Physical quantity is bound to a fundamental quantity is called
its dimensions.

 Dimensions of fundamental physical quantities found in Mechanics;

No Physical Quantity Dimension

1. Length L
2. Mass M
3. Time T

 Dimensions of several derived physical quantities found in Mechanics;

No Physical Quantity Definition Dimension

1. Area Length x Width L2

2. Volume Length x Width x Height L3
3, Density Mass/ Volume ML-3
4. Velocity Displacement/time LT-1
5. Acceleration Velocity /time LT-2
6. Force Mass x acceleration M LT-2

3 Usages of Dimensions are as follow;

i.) To check whether an equation is dimensionally correct.
ii.) Derive relationship among physical quantities using dimensional analysis.

 If an equation is dimensionally correct, the following facts should be satisfied;

a.) The dimensions on both sides of the equation must be the same.
b.) Each term in the equation must have the same dimensions.

Example: Let’s consider the equation v= u +at for checking;

Dimensions of “v”; [v] = LT-1
Dimensions of “u”; [u] = LT-1
Dimensions of “at”; [at] = [LT-2] x [T]
= LT-1
Therefore, [v] = [u] = [at]
The dimensions on both sides of the equation are the same, and each term has the same dimension.
Therefore, the equation is Dimensionally Correct.

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