MODULE PHYSICAL QUANTITIES AND

NO. 1 MEASUREMENTS
Lesson 1

Learning Targets
At the end of the lesson, I can:
a. Define accuracy and precision;
b. Perform operations with scientific notation;
c. Differentiate between systematic errors and random errors; and
d. Estimate errors from multiple measurements of a physical quality using
variance.

I. INTRODUCTION:

When I say my weight is 48 kilograms, I’m referring to my mass. When I

say that it’s already 8:00 o’clock, I’m referring to the time. When I say
the length of the table is 1.5 meters, I’m referring to its length. These
are examples of the ordinary measurements which we usually do.
Anything that we can measure is called physical quantities, and it should
have magnitude and unit. In this lesson, you will encounter different
physical quantities, learn how they are measured, and determine how
precise and accurate the measurements are done.

Lesson 1.1.1. – Accuracy and Precision

The physical measurements that we have, whether

done by the best apparatus or the most skilled
observer, are never exact. To a certain degree, the
measurement will be uncertain. Accuracy and
precision will help us understand measurements.
Accuracy is how close a measured value is to the
actual value, while precision is how close the
measured values are to each other.
If there is no exact measurement, what does the reported
measurement of a physical quantity indicates?

The recorded measurement is just the best estimate of the

correct value of the physical quantity. Let us have an
example. Can you see the wood below? The wood is
reported to be . It means that the correct value
lies between and , and the uncertainty limit is

Teacher, how do we find the percent of the

uncertainty of measurement?

Well, that’s easy. We can find it by dividing the limit of

uncertainty by the recorded measurement, then multiplied by
100%. From our example, the wood is ; thus, the
percent of uncertainty is

Using the percent of uncertainty, we can write the value of

measurement as . The smaller the percentage of
uncertainty, the higher the degree of accuracy, and the larger
the percent of uncertainty, the lower the degree of
measurement accuracy
Precision is not the same as accuracy. So, teacher, how do we find out the
precision of a measurement?

We can determine the precision of measurement by

making a repeated careful measurement of the same
quantity. For example, you measure the mass of the
wood, and you got a value of , , and

during the first, second, and third trial,

respectively. From the data sets, we could say that the
measurements are highly precise because all the values
are close. We can increase the precision of measurement
through repeated readings of the same quantity.

Teacher, does high accuracy implies high precision?

No. It is still possible to get high accuracy, but low

precision or low accuracy, but high precision, and vice
versa. The nature of measurement used, the object
measured, and the observer’s skill can affect the
accuracy and precision of the measurement.

SUMMARY
Data Result Data Result
High Accuracy High Accuracy
High Precision Low Precision

Data Result Data Result

Low Accuracy Low Accuracy
High Precision Low Precision

Are you ready to do some exercises and

home activities? You may now do Activity 1
on pages 1-2 of your General Physics 1
activity sheets.

Lesson 1.1.2. – Scientific Notation

In Physics, we will be dealing with very large and very small

numbers, such as the size of the universe having a value of 100,
000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 meters or the size of the
diameter of hydrogen having a value of 0.0000000001 meters. It
will take us a long period of time to write these values, thus, we
need a way to abbreviate very large and very small numbers
using the shorthand way called scientific notation.

Scientific Notation can be written in the form:

 where

a number between 1 and 10

is an integer (number of decimal places the decimal point is moved)

Example #1

Write using scientific notation.

Solution:
In this case,

(Note: is between and and the decimal point is placed after the first nonzero digit 1.)

(Note: Number 6 or the power of ten is the number of decimal places the decimal point is
moved. The power of ten, in this case is positive, because the decimal point is moved six
places to the left.)

Thus,

It is the same as:

or

Example #2

Write using scientific notation.

Solution:
In this case,

(Note: is between 1 and 10, and the decimal point is placed after the first nonzero digit 4.)

(Note: Number 8 or the power of ten is the number of places the decimal point is moved to the
right of 4. The power of ten in this case, is negative, because the decimal point is moved eight
places to the right of 4.)
Thus,
It is the same as:

or

Source: https://topex.ucsd.edu/es10/handouts/handout01/img10.gif (Accessed June 30, 2020)

Congratulate and treat yourself for learning how

to write very large and very small numbers in
scientific notation. The next thing that we are
going to do is apply arithmetic with numbers
written in scientific notation.
 Operations on Scientific Notation

Addition and Subtraction

(Note: When adding and subtracting numbers written in scientific notation, all the numbers
must have the same exponents.)
STEP 1. Write the numbers in scientific notation and express the numbers as the same
power of 10 (only for numbers with different exponents).
STEP 2. Add/Subtract the numbers
STEP 3. Bring down the given exponent on the 10.

Example #1
Add and

Step 1. The numbers are already the same power of 10

Step 2. Add

Step 3. Bring down the exponent

Example #2
Subtract from

Step 1. The numbers are already the same power of 10

Step 2. Subtract

Step 3. Bring down the exponent

Multiplication of Scientific Notation

STEP 1. Write the numbers in scientific notation.
STEP 2. Multiply the numbers in the usual way.
STEP 3. Add the exponents of ten.

Example #3
Multiply by

Step 1. Write the numbers in scientific notation

Step 2. Multiply and in the usual way

Step 3. Add the exponents of ten.

Thus,

Division of Scientific Notation

STEP 1. Write the numbers in scientific notation.

STEP 2. Divide the numbers in the usual way.
STEP 3. Subtract the exponent of ten in the divisor (denominator) from the exponent
of ten in the dividend (numerator).

Example #4
Divide by

Step 1. The numbers are already written in scientific notation.

Step 2. Divide by

Step 3. Subtract the exponents.

=
Now, it becomes

However, we must write the answer in the correct form, so we have to shift the decimal point
to its proper position, which is one place to the right, thus, the final answer is
 When we want to measure our height and mass, we need a scale, that goes
the same for other physical quantities such as temperature, volume, etc.
However, the calibration of the scale is limited to a certain degree; thus,
the recorded measurement of a physical quantity may not be exact, but it is
still significant; thus, it is considered a reasonable value. When we measure
physical quantities, no matter how careful we are, we commit or encounter
some errors. Today, you will learn what these errors are and estimate them
from multiple measurements of a physical quantity using a variance.

Systematic Errors and Random Errors

What is an error in a measurement?

 In Physics, we always measure physical quantities. The result of this measurement

always contain uncertainty between the measured value and the true value. And the
uncertainty in reading a measurement is called error.
What are the two types of error?
 Systematic Error and Random Error

Systematic Error
 Systematics errors are those errors that tend to be in one direction or always of the
same sign, either positive or negative.
3 Classification of Systematic Error:
a. Instrumental Error
-Errors caused by faulty or inaccurate apparatus
b. Personal Error
-Errors that involve some peculiarity or bias of observer
c. External Error
-Errors that are caused by external conditions like temperature, humidity, wind, and
 vibrations
Random Error

 Random errors are those errors that occur irregularly and hence are random with
respect to sign and size. These can arise due to random and unpredictable fluctuations
in experimental conditions (e.g., unpredictable fluctuations in temperature, voltage
supply, mechanical vibrations of experimental setups, etc.), personal (unbiased) errors
by the observer taking readings, etc. Taking a large number of observations will lessen
the effect of errors because they are subject to the laws of chance.

You already know the types of errors. Now, you will

learn how to estimate errors if multiple
measurements of a physical quantity using a
variance. A variance will indicate how precise the
measurements are and how far a set of numbers is
spread out from their average and every other set of
number in the set.

If we have several readings, say readings, we can take the sum of these readings and take
the arithmetic mean. Then, take the individual deviations, , of the readings from the
arithmetic mean. Take the average of these deviations by getting the sum of the deviations
(without regard of sign) divided by the number of observations, . In equation for, average
deviation,

The average deviation of the mean, , is given by

Let us study the following example.

Let us say we have several trials of the measurement of the length of a tube given in the
table below.
Length (cm) Deviation (d)
12.30 -0.04
12.35 +0.01
12.31 -0.03
12.34 0.00
12.36 +0.02
12.38 +0.04
12.33 -0.01
12.35 +0.01
 Take the mean of these values.

Take the deviations of the values from the mean (see these in the second column in the
table above). Compute for the value of and .

Thus, the best average value of the set of observations is .