General Physics 1

Week 1: Units and

Physical Quantities
 Learning Objectives

After this lesson, you should be able to:

• Solve measurement problems involving
conversion of units
• Express measurements in scientific notation
 Topics to be discussed

UNIT
01 UNITS 03 CONVERSION

SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM
02 NOTATION 04 SOLVING
 2 Major Systems of Units
S. I. Units English Units
➢ a.k.a. metric system ➢ a.k.a. customary or
(m, kg) imperial system (ft, lb)
➢ is the standard system ➢ were historically used in
agreed upon by nations once ruled by
scientists and British Empire
mathematicians.
 7 Fundamental Quantities
Quantity SI Unit Symbol
Length meter m
Gen. Physics 1

Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Temperature Kelvin K
Electric Current Ampere A
Amount of mole mol
Substance
Luminous Intensity candela Cd
 Scientific Notations
is a way to write either a relatively large and relatively
small numbers using exponents.

It has three parts to it:

a.) coefficient, b.) base and c.) exponent.
Scientific Notations
Scientific Notations
Scientific Notations
 Fill in the table with the correct value
Quantity in Scientific Standard
Quantity
Symbol Notation Notation
2 kilograms 2 kg 2 x 103 g 2, 000 g
3 Petaseconds 3 Ps 3 x 1015 𝑠 3, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 s

4 Megapixels 4 Mp 4 x 106 p 4, 000, 000 p

5 milliliters 5 mL 5 x 10−3 L 0.005 L
16 microFarads 16 µF 16 x 𝟏𝟎−𝟔 F or 1.6 x 𝟏𝟎−𝟓 F 0.000016 F
22 nanometers 22 nm 22 x 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 m or 2.2 x 𝟏𝟎−𝟖 m 0.000000022 m
 Unit Conversion
Solve for the following:
1. Jolly B. is travelling at a speed of 12 m/s. What is its
equivalent in km / hr?

12 m x 1 km x 3600 s
s 1000 m 1 hr

Speed = 43.2 km / hr
 Unit Conversion
Solve for the following:
2. Lily Go is travelling at a speed of 40 km/hr. What is
its equivalent in mi / hr?

40 km x 1 mi
hr 1.609 km

Speed = 24.86 mi / hr
 Practice Exercises
Which of the
1
following is a Length Meters m
quantity? A B C

Which of the
2
following is a Mass Kilogram kg
A B C
unit?
Which of the
3 following is a Temperature Kelvin K
A B C
symbol?
 Practice Exercises
From the example,
prefix Exa is used for
4 Uhm, not so
meters. Can it be used Yes No
as a prefix for other sure 👉 👈
quantities? A B C

5 What is the symbol for

da de dk
deka?
A B C
 Practice Exercises

Is 52.5 x 102 an example Yes No

6 of scientific notation?
A B

7
Is 23.02 x 10−2 an
example of proper Yes No
scientific notation? A B
 Practice Exercises
8 When converted to proper
scientific notation, will 1,500 Yes No
and 2,500 have the same
order of magnitude? A B

9 When converting from km to

m, can I interchange the Yes No
numerator and denominator
in the conversion factor? A B
 Practice Exercises
10 Which is the most m km nm
appropriate unit to be
used for optical design? A B C

11 Which of the following is

250 Hz 2, 500 Hz 25, 000 Hz
equivalent to 2.5 kHz?
A B C
QUESTIONS?
“The only way to learn
mathematics is to do
mathematics.”
- Paul Halmos