LESSON 3: SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENTS

7 FUNDAMENTAL UNITS
1. meter (m) - length
2. kilogram (kg) - mass
3. second (s) - time
4. Kelvin (K) - temperature
5. ampere (A) – electric current
6. candela (cd) – luminous intensity PREFIXES FOR POWER OF TEN

7. mole (mol) – number of particles or amount of substance

OTHER DERIVED UNITS

8. Area – ( m2 )
9. volume– (m3)
10. Density – (kg/m3)
11. Speed – (m/s) For the mass – kilogram (kg)

12. Force – kg-m/s2 or N

SI SYSTEM BASE OF UNIT

Meter is defined as the length equal to 1,650,763. 73
times the wavelength of orange light emitted by the atoms of
the gas krypton -86.
For the time – seconds (s)

For the kilogram is a block of platinum preserved at the

International Bureau of Weights and Measures in France.

HOW DO WE CONVERT UNITS?

We have to know how to determine the conversion
 DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
factors - is a ratio that expresses how many of one unit are
This refers to the study of quantities which have
equal to another unit. For example, there are 12 in. in 1 ft
dimensions like the fundamental quantities as well as the
derived quantities.
It is important to know the standard units for the
fundamental quantities like mass, length, and time.
3 FUNDAMENTAL can be denoted as M,L,T
Mass, Length, Time.
STANDARD METRIC SYSTEM
The meter (m) is the fundamental unit of length.
DERIVED QUANTITIES
Prefixes are added to convert measurements to smaller or
1. Area = length x length = L2
larger units.
2. Volume = length x length x length = L3
3. Density = mass / volume = M / L3
4. Velocity = length / time = L / T  Speed is defined as the rate of change of position of an
5. Acceleration = velocity / time = L/T = L/T2 object in any direction. Speed is measured as the ratio of
distance to the time in which the distance was covered.
Note: the left side of an equation must be the same as the Speed is a scalar quantity as it has only direction and no
dimension used in the right side. magnitude.
 Displacement is defined as the change in position of an
 SCALAR AND VECTOR QUANTITIES object. It is a vector quantity and has a direction and

Scalar – quantities that has magnitude only (Ex. Mass, time, magnitude. It is represented as an arrow that points from

speed, energy, medium temperature) the starting position to the final position. For example- If

In a scalar quantity these are specified by magnitude an object moves from A position to B, then the object's

only. A magnitude tells us the numerical value and unit of a position changes.

quantity (Ex. 25 kg, 30 seconds, 200 m/s , 1000 joules. All of  Average speed is the total distance traveled by the object

these have magnitudes only. in a particular time interval. The average speed is a scalar
quantity. It is represented by the magnitude and does not

Vector –quantity that has magnitude and direction. Magnitude have direction.

is the 'size' or 'quantity‘ (Ex. Velocity, displacement,  Velocity is the prime indicator of the position as well as

acceleration, force, increasing/decreasing temperature) the rapidity of the object. It can be defined as the distance

Vectors are quantities that are specified by both covered by an object in unit time. Velocity can be defined

magnitude and direction. (Ex. 9. 8 m/s2 downward, 29 m west, as the displacement of the object in unit time.

200 newton, 20 degrees north of east, 75 m/s westward,  Acceleration, rate at which velocity changes with time, in

gravity) terms of both speed and direction. A point or an object

moving in a straight line is accelerated if it speeds up or
slows down. Motion on a circle is accelerated even if the
speed is constant, because the direction is continually
changing.
 Deceleration occurs when acceleration has an opposite
direction as the object's velocity. In physics, deceleration
definition always refers to the slowing down of an object,
A vector is represented by an which means that the magnitude of the velocity decreases
 Density is the measurement of how tightly a material is
arrow packed together. It is defined as the mass per unit volume.
Density Symbol: D or ρ Density Formula: ρ = m/V, where ρ
Take note the head of the arrow indicates the direction of is the density, m is the mass of the object and V is the
vector. The tail represents the origin. The length of the arrow volume of the object.
represents the magnitude of the vector.  Momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an
object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and
length of the arrow a direction.
Tail head