PHYSICS

• Units
• Measurements and Conversion • Errors
 • Scientific Notation
• Significant Figures

PHYSICAL QUANTITIES
Physics is the study of everyday phenomena. It aims
to explain these phenomena in terms of the
fundamental laws, or the laws of nature. To be specific,
physics is the study of matter and energy and their
relationship. Physicist believe that most everyday
phenomena can, in one way or another, be explained
through physics, as matter and energy are the basic
constituents of the natural world; they are what the
entire universe is made of.
UNITS

Physics is an experimental science.

Physicists perform experiments to test
hypotheses. Conclusions in experiment are
derived from measurements. And physicists
use numbers to describe measurements.
Such a number is called a physical quantity.
Continuation…

Since 1960 the system of units used by

scientists and engineers is the “metric
system”, which is officially known as the
“International System” or SI units
(abbreviation for its French term, Système
International).
The 7 SI Units
Symbol Name Quantity

s second time
m meter length
kg kilogram mass
A ampere electric current
K kelvin thermodynamic
temperature
mol mole amount of substance
 cd candela luminous intensity

CONVERSION OF UNITS

Units in different systems or even different units in

the same system can express the same quantity. To
avoid confusion, it is therefore necessary to convert the
units of a quantity from one unit to another. You may
need to convert inches into feet, inches into
centimeters or even centimeters into meters.
Conversion of units can be done by multiplying the
original unit by an appropriate ‘conversion factor.
CONVERSION FACTORS

Given Multiply by To find

Length and Distance

Inches 25.4 Millimeters

Feet 30.5 Centimeters
Yards 0.9 Meters
Miles 1.6 Kilometers
Millimeters 0.04 Inches
Centimeters 0.4 Inches
Meters 1.1 Yards
Kilometers 0.6 Miles

Surface or Area

Square inches 6.5 Square centimeters

Square feet 0.09 Square meters
Square yards 0.8 Square meters
Square miles 2.6 Square kilometers
Acres 0.4 Hectares
Square centimeters 0.16 Square inches
Square meters 1.2 Square yards
Square kilometers 0.1 Square miles
Hectares 2.5 Acres

CONVERSION FACTORS
Given Multiply by To find
Volume and Capacity
Ounces (fluid) 30 Milliliters
Pints 0.47 Liters
Quarts 0.95 Liters
Gallons 3.8 Liters
Milliliters 0.034 Ounces (fluid)
Liters 2.1 Pints
Liters 1.06 Quarts
Liters 0.26 Gallons
Weight and Mass
Ounces 28 Grams
Pounds 0.45 Kilograms
Short tons 0.9 Metric tons
Grams 0.035 Ounces
Kilograms 2.2 Pounds
Metric tons 1.1 Short tons
MEASUREMENT UNCERTAINTIES There is no such
thing as a perfect measurement. Every measurement, whether
made by a student or a professional scientist, contains a certain
degree of uncertainty. ◦ Systematic errors are due to the
limitation of the measuring instrument and skill or carefulness of
the experimenter. ◦ Random errors are caused by external
factors beyond the control of the experimenter such as
vibrations, noise, changes in atmospheric pressure and friction.
◦ Accuracy of measurement describes how well the results agree
with an accepted value of the quantity being measure. ◦
Precision refers to the degree of exactness to which a
measurement can be reproduced.
SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
In scientific notation, numbers are represented by the
product of a multiplying factor and a power of ten. A
power of ten is the number 10 raised to an integer
exponent. You can write measurements using scientific
notation by moving the decimal point until only one
digit which is nonzero remains on the left. Then, count
the number of places the decimal point was moved
and use the number of places as exponent of ten. The
sign of the exponent depends whether you count off
places to the right (-) or to the left (+).
Example 1:
 6000000000000000000000000 -- 6.0 x 10^24 The
decimal point has been moved 24 places to the left
because the exponent is +24.

Example 2:
0.00000000
0000000000000000000000911 -- 9.11 x 10^(-31)
The decimal point has been moved 31 places to the
right because the exponent is -31.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
In your study of physics, you will do a lot of measurements of
physical quantities. When you record and report numerical
values of your measurements, you must express them in a
numerical form which composed of digits that are known
with certainty plus the first uncertain digit. These digits are
known as significant digits, or significant figures. In general,
the number of significant figures of a numerical quantity is
the number of reliably known digits it contains and is based
on the precision of the instrument used in measuring the
quantity.
In such cases, you can use the following rules:
1. Leading zeros are not significant, they simply locate the decimal
point.
Example: 0.000143 m has three significant figures (1, 4,
3) 2. Zeros between nonzero digits are significant.
Example: 105.03 m has five significant figures (1, 0, 5, 0, 3)
3. Trailing zeros are usually significant, but can be ambiguous.
Examples:
100. cm has three significant figures
1.00 cm has three significant figures
P 100 has three significant figures
100 cm is ambiguous; the zeros may or may not be
significant.