General Physics Lecture

For Year I First Semester Natural

Science Students
Physics Department

By; Bessie Mengesha

1 3/22/2023
 Part I

 Physical quantities and units of Examples:

measurement - 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑: 331 𝑚/sec

 Uncertainty in measurement and - 𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑥 = 5 𝑘𝑔

significant figures

→ In physics, a physical quantity is any physical property that

can be quantified, that is, be measured using numbers.

𝑃𝑕𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑄𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡

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Units of Measurement
 A measurement is defined as the process of finding the size or amount of a physical
quantity using the standard unit for that quantity (see below for standard units).

 To be quantitative in Physics requires measurements

 How tall is A man? How about
his weight?
 Height: 2.29 m
 Weight: 600N

Number + Unit
Both numbers and units are necessary for
any meaningful physical quantities.
Note: A unit of measurement (defined and adopted by convention) is a standard by means of which
the amount of a physical quantity is expressed.

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 Types Quantities
 Many things can be measured: distance, speed, energy, time, force
These are related to one another: speed = distance / time
 Choose three basic quantities (DIMENSIONS):
 LENGTH
 MASS
 TIME
 Define other units in terms of these units.

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SI Unit for 3 Basic Quantities
 Many possible choices for units of Length, Mass, Time (e.g.
Nao is 2.29 m or 7 ft 6 in)
 In 1960, standard bodies control and define System of
International (SI) unit as,
 LENGTH: Meter
 MASS: Kilogram
 TIME: Second

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 Prefixes for SI Units (Positive and Negative exponents)
These prefixes multiply base These prefixes are decimal  0.003 s = 3  0.001 s
units for larger measurements fractions that multiply base = 3  10-3 s = 3 ms
units for smaller  0.01 = 10-2 = centi
measurements
 0.001 = 10-3 = milli
Prefix Symbol Multiple Prefix Symbol Submulti  0.000 001 = 10-6 = micro
ple  0.000 000 001 = 10-9 = nano
24 -1
yotta Y 10 deci d 10  0.000 000 000 001 = 10-12
zetta Z 10
21
centi c 10
-2 = pico = p
18 -3  1 nm = ? m = ? cm
exa E 10 milli m 10
 3 cm = ? m = ? mm
15 -6
peta P 10 micro μ 10
12 -9
tera T 10 nano n 10
giga G 10
9
pico p 10
-12  3,000 m = 3  1,000 m
6 -15 = 3  103 m = 3 km
mega M 10 femto f 10
3 -18  1,000,000,000 = 109 = 1G
kilo k 10 atto a 10
2 -21  1,000,000 = 106 = 1M
hecto h 10 zepto z 10
1 -24
 1,000 = 103 = 1k
deka da 10 yocto y 10  141 kg = ? g
0
10 = 1  1 GB = ? Byte = ? MB

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Derived Quantities and Units
 Multiplyand divide units just like numbers
 Derived quantities: area, speed, volume, density ……
o Area = Length  Length SI unit for area = m2
o Volume = Length  Length  Length SI unit for volume = m3
o Speed = Length / time SI unit for speed = m/s
o Density = Mass / Volume SI unit for density = kg/m3
 In2008 Olympic Game, Usain Bolt sets world record at 9.69 s in
Men’s 100 m Final. What is his average speed ?

100 m 100 m
speed     10.32 m/s
9.69 s 9.69 s

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 Other Unit System
 Conversion factor
A conversion factor is the number or formula you need to convert
a measurement in one set of units to the same measurement in another
set of units. The number is usually given as a numerical ratio or fraction
that can be used as a multiplication factor.
 1 mile = 1609 m = 1.609 km
 1 ft = 0.3048 m = 30.48 cm
 1 m = 39.37 in = 3.281 ft = 100 cm = 1000 mm
 1 in. = 0.0254 m = 2.54 cm
 1 lb = 0.465 kg
 1 oz = 28.35 g
 1 slug = 14.59 kg
 1 km = 1000 m
 1 day = 24 hours = 24 * 60 minutes = 24 * 60 * 60 seconds

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Dimensions, Units and Equations
 Quantities have dimensions:
 Length – L, Mass – M, and Time - T
 Quantities have units: Length – m, Mass – kg, Time – s
 To refer to the dimension of a quantity, use square
brackets, e.g. [F] means dimensions of force.
Quantity Area Volume Speed Acceleration

Dimension [A] = L2 [V] = L3 [v] = L/T [a] = L/T2

SI Units m2 m3 m/s m/s2

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Fundamental Quantities and SI Units

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 Uncertainty in Measurement
A digit that must be estimated is called uncertain. A measurement
always has some degree of uncertainty.
Or
The amount of confusion in a measurement is called uncertainty.
 Measurements are performed with instruments.

 Precision and Accuracy

 Accuracy refers to the agreement of a particular value with the true
value.
 Precision refers to the degree of agreement among several
measurements made in the same manner. Or the quality of being
exact.

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Uncertainty in Measurement and Significant Figures
Although the terms “error” and “uncertainty” are used interchangeably, they are a bit
different.

a) Error
Error is defined as the difference between an observed value and a true value.
Error = observed value – true value

The “observed” value is either a result of direct measurement or a calculated value using
other measured values in a formula. The “true” value exists but is unknown. Then how can
one determine the error in measurements? The goal of measurement is to estimate the true
value of physical constant using experimental methods.

Figure: A schematic representation of error

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a) Uncertainty
Uncertainty is a quantification of the doubt about the measurement result. This
quantification gives the range of values within which the true value is believed to lie with
some level of confidence. Uncertainty is determined by statistical analysis of many values
of measurement.

Suppose the result of length measurement is (20.1 ± 0.1) cm. This means that the
experimenter believes the true value to be closest to 20.1 cm but it could have been anywhere
between 20.0 cm and 20.2 cm.

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 Figure: Illustration of the difference between accuracy and precision.

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Exercise
Given the standard value of g = 9.80665 m/s2 and the following sets of five measurement values,
write “YES” or “NO” in response to the question of accuracy and precision and discuss your
responses.

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Error can be classified as absolute and relative

a) Absolute error
- It is the difference between the measured value and the
accepted value

Absolute error = measured value – accepted value

b) Relative error
It is a fractional error defined as
Relative error = Absolute error/Accepted value
c) Percentage of error
Percentage error is relative error expressed as a percentage:
Percentage error = Relative error x 100%

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How many significant figures in each of the following?

1.0070 m  --5----- sig figs

17.10 kg  --4----- sig figs

100,890 L  ---5---- sig figs

3.29 x 103 s  --3----- sig figs
0.0054 cm  --2----- sig figs
3,200,000  --2----- sig figs

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 Rules for Significant Figures in Mathematical
Operations

Multiplication and Division: # sig figs in the result equals

the number in the least precise measurement used in the
calculation.

6.38 x2.0 = 12.76 13 (2 sig figs)

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 Addition and Subtraction: The number of
decimal places in the result equals the number
of decimal places in the least precise
measurement.
6.8+11.934 = 18.734 18.7 (3 sig figs)

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 Sig Fig Practice #2
Calculation Calculator says: Answer
3.24 m x 7.0 m 22.68 m2 -23- m2

100.0 g ÷ 23.7 cm3 4.219409283 g/cm3 4.22- g/cm3

0.02 cm x 2.371 cm 0.04742 cm2 ------ cm2

710 m ÷ 3.0 s 236.6666667 m/s ------ m/s

1818.2 lb x 3.23 ft 5872.786 lb·ft ----- lb.ft

1.030 g ÷ 2.87 mL 2.9561 g/mL ----- g/mL

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 Sig Fig Practice #3

Calculation Calculator says: Answer

3.24 m + 7.0 m 10.24 m -10.2- m
100.0 g - 23.73 g 76.27 g -76.3-- g
0.02 cm + 2.371 cm 2.391 cm ------ cm
713.1 L - 3.872 L 709.228 L ------- L

1818.2 lb + 3.37 lb 1821.57 lb ------- lb

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 Activity
1) Calculate and give the answer using the Solutions
correct number of significant figures. Step 1: Calculate the
3.4+100.33
= _________________________ numerate and denominator
(2.5−0.11)
as

3.4 + 100.33 = 103.73 ≅ 103.7

And

2.5 − 0.11 = 2.39 ≅ 2.4

Step 2: Operate the division as

103.7
= 43.208333333 ≅ 43
2.4

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