CHAPTER 2- MEASUREMENT (5 hrs.

MEASUREMENT
Measurement is used to describe matter quantitatively through the use of measuring
instrument like meter stick, weighing scale, beaker, graduated cylinder, ruler, tape measure.
Different instrument measures different quantities.
International System of Units (SI)- This was proposed by the scientific community for the
standard units of measurement. There were other system of units before the SI units. First was
the English system proposed by the Ancient English people. Second was the Metric system
which is the unit of measurement with the base of 10. Below is the list of the different units of
English and metric system.

SYSTEM UNITS
ENGLISH Pound, atmosphere, inch, yard, mile, bar, mil/hr,
METRIC Meter, liter, centimeter, pascal, newton, hour, second, cubic meter

Conventional units of the SI Units

BASED/FUNDAMENTAL QUANTITIES
Quantity SI Unit
Length Meter (m)
Mass Kilogram (kg)
Time Second (s)
Temperature Kelvin (K)
Amount of Substance Mole (mol)
Luminous Intensity Candela (cd)
Electric current Ampere (A)
DERIVED UNITS (named a few)
Speed Meter per second(m/s)
Acceleration Meter per second square (m/s2)
Force Newton (N)
Pressure Pascal (Pa)
Volume Cubic meter (m3)
Density Kilogram/cubic meter (kg/m3)

Conversion of Units

Note: To better understand the conversion of units, visit your flash drive and watch the video
entitle “conversion of units”. You need to have conversion factors and prefixes. It is available
in bookstores.

Teacher’s insight
SI units is proposed because metric system is hard to convert to metric system. SI
unit is a conventional to agree what unit of measurement is used. The SI unit for length
is meter. Meter is one part of the distance traveled by light in one second. The SI unit for
Mass is kilogram. Kilogram is the mass of a platinum-iridium cylinder metal alloy. Second
is the SI unit of time. Second is the 9 billion times vibration of the molecules of cesium
atom. Atomic clock is the most accurate measurement of time nowadays. During the
ancient periods, people used their body parts for measurement. Examples are, they used
their hands like from tip to tip of their hands when expanded is called span. Their foot is
a foot today. Since people are not the same in size, they actually made a standard
measurement. So, this is the essence of having a standard measurement to have
accurate and precise measurements.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
This are digits that are significant in a certain measurement. This can be achieved by
controlling the number of digits used to report the measurement. This consist of all the
digits known with certainty plus one more digit that is uncertain or estimated.
Example: In the measurement of 1001 m, there are 4 significant figures. In 100000 kg has
only one significant figure. In o. oo1s has only one significant figure. In 10.000 has 5
significant figures. To better understand the concept of significant figure, visit the flash
drive and look for the power point and video entitled significant figure.

Teacher’s Insights
Significant figure is very important to us. This will help us not to be bias on the
quantities we are measuring. Measuring devices will dictate you how many significant
figures must be recorded. For example, you used meter stick. It is impossible for you
to record 0.0001 meter. Another is when you use an analog weighing scale. It is very
impossible for you to record 1.0001 kg. Also, it is very hard for us to determine the
number of significant figures when the measurement is exact like the value of pie. The
value of pie is 3.1415………. which has infinite value of significant figure.