BASE AND DERIVED

UNITS AND STANDARD

FORM
What is a base unit
Base Units

● They are the fundamental units of measurement for physical quantities.

● The International System of Units (SI) has established seven base units;
○ Length- meter (m)
○ Time- seconds (s)
○ Amount of substance - mole (mole)
○ Electric current- Ampere (A)
○ Temperature - Kelvin (K)
○ Luminous intensity- candela (cd)
○ Mass- Kilograms (kg)
Okaaaaay….but what are
derived units??
Derived Units

● Derived unit is a unit of measurement that is derived from one or more of the seven SI base units.
● These are based on mathematical relationships and definitions.
● For example: Speed
● Speed is the distance travelled per unit time
● Formula: distance moved (m)/ time (s). Units: ms-1
● All derived units are worked out this way.
● However for convenience and in honour of the important scientists, some derived units are given
special names.
● Example is the unit for potential difference derived from base units is m2kgs-1A-1. But this unit is given
the special name; Volt (V).
Derived Units
PHYSICAL QUANTITY FORMULA UNITS

Area Length x breadth m2

Volume Area (length x breadth) x height m3

Density mass/volume kgm-3

Velocity displacement(distance)/time ms-1

Momentum Mass x velocity kgms-1

Acceleration Velocity/time ms-2

Force Mass x Acceleration Kgms-2 or Newtons (N)

Pressure Force/ area Nm-2 or Pascal (Pa)

Energy (work) Force x distance Nm or Joules (J)

Surface tension Force/length Nm-1

Wait…..how did we get some of the derived
units????!!
Examples on how we get the derived units

Using Area as an example

Area= Length x breadth

Length is measured in meters (m) and breadth is measured in meters (m)

Area= m x m= m1 x m1

Remember the law of indices?

Am x An = Am+n

Area= m1 x m1= m1+1= m2

Examples on how we get the derived units

Using Acceleration as an example:

Acceleration= velocity/ time

Remember when a unit has a negative power, the value the unit represented was divided. For example,
velocity is distance divided by time, there are two ways to write the unit; m (distance)/ s (time) or ms-1 in
which the - sign indicated that the unit s represented time was divided.

SO, Acceleration= ms-1/s= m x s-1/ s = m x s-1 x s-1 = m x s-2 = ms-2

So….. we covered Base and
Derived units….but what is
Standard form??
Standard Form

● To avoid using very large or very small numbers, scientists use standard form.
● Standard forms allow you to represent very large and very small numbers using a system of numerical
notation.
● In standard form, the numbers are written as A x 10n where; A represents a number between 0- 10
and n represents the number of places to move the decimal point.
● For n, a positive value indicate the movement to the right while negative value indicate movement to
the left.
Examples would be great
Standard Forms- Examples

1. Write 4500 in standard form

a. Step One- Locate the decimal point.

4500.

b. Step Two- Shift the decimal point in order to achieve a number between 0 and 10

450.0- Is this between 0 and 10- No

45.00- Is this between 0 and 10- No

4.500 or 4.5 (for the zeroes are understood)- Is this between 0 and 10- Yes
Standard Forms- Examples
1. Write 4500 in standard form

C. Step Three- Count how many times, the decimal has to shift in order to move from the
number between 0-10 back to the original value and what direction.

4.5 to 4500:

4.5 to 45.0- One

45.0 to 450.0- two

450.0 to 4500.- Three and the shifts are to the right

Step Four- Write the number in standard form notation; A x 10n

D. 4.5 x 103; where A is the number between 0 and 10 (4.5) and n is the number of shifts of the
decimal.
 Standard Forms- Examples
Write 0.0006 in standard form

Step One- Locate the decimal point

0.0006

Step Two- Shift the decimal point to achieve the number between 0 and 10

Step Three- Count the amount of shifts to get from the number between 0 and 10 back to the original number and the
direction

From 6 to 0.0006- 4 shifts to the left

Step Four- Write the answer in Standard notation;

6x 10-4