IB DP PHYSICS

Measurement, Uncertainties and

Vectors
Pierce – The American College of Greece IB DP Physics

Basic SI Units
1. Metre (m) : Unit of distance, defined as the distance travelled by light in 1/c sec,
where c is the speed of light (about 3 x 108 m/sec).
2. Kilogram (kg): A measure of mass, defined by a platinum-iridium cylinder kept in
Sevres, France.
3. Second (s): Unit of time, based on the time taken for a cesium atom to vibrate
about 9.1 x 109 times.
4. Ampere (A): Unit of electric current. It is defined as that current which, when
flowing in two parallel conductors 1m apart, produces a force of 2 x 10-7 N on a
length of 1m of the conductors.
5. Kelvin (K): Unit of temperature. It is 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature
of the triple point of water.
6. Mole (mol): One mole of a substance contains as many molecules as there are
atoms in 12 g of carbon-12.
7. Candela (cd): Intensity of light. It is the intensity of a source of frequency 5.4 x1014
Hz emitting 1/683 W per steradian.

Exponents

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Scientific Notation.
Scientific notation is a short-hand form to write numbers which would have a lot of
zeros when written as decimals. For example, instead of writing 1230000, you can
just write 1.23 · 1000000 or 1.23 · 106.
The familiar powers of ten include:

10-3 = 0.001
10-2 = 0.01
10-1 = 0.1
100 = 1
101 = 10
102 = 100
103 = 1000

To go from scientific notation to a plain decimal number, move the decimal to the
right or left according to the sign of the exponent, putting a zero down when you
have no other digits there.

To go from a plain decimal number to scientific notation, just move the decimal to
the right or left (counting how many places you move) until there is only one digit to
the left of the decimal point, then add “· 10n ” where n is the number of places you
moved the decimal point (positive if you went left and negative if you went right).

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Examples of Length, Mass and Time

Length (m) Mass (kg)

Distance to edge of observable universe 1026 The universe 1053
Diameter of the Milky Way galaxy 10 21 The Milky Way galaxy 1041
Distance to nearest star 1016 The Sun 1030
Diameter of solar system 1013 The Earth 1024
Distance to Sun 1011 An apple 0.25
Radius of the Earth 107 A raindrop 10-6
Size of a hydrogen atom 10 -10 Smallest virus 10-21
Size of a nucleus 10-15 A hydrogen atom 10-27

Size of a proton 10-15

Time (sec)
Age of the universe 1017
Age of the Earth 1017
Time of travel by light to nearby star 108
One year 107
One day 105
Period of a heartbeat 1
Period of red light 10-15
Time of passsage of light across a nucleus 10-24

Fundamental Units: Seven units of basic quantities from which all other
units can be derived (eg. metre, second, kilogram).

Derived Units: Units which are made by combining fundamental units

(eg. m/s2, Newton).

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Significant figures

Rule Examples
Zeros appearing between nonzero digits  40.7 L has three sig figs
are significant  87 009 km has five sig figs

Zeros appearing in front of nonzero digits  0.095 987 m has five sig figs
are not significant  0.0009 kg has one sig fig

Zeros at the end of a number and to the  85.00 g has four sig figs
right of a decimal are significant  9.000 000 000 mm has 10 sig figs

Scalars & Vectors

Scalar quantities only have magnitude (size).

• e.g. distance, speed, mass, time,, charge, energy.
• Scalars are added algebraically.

Vector quantities have magnitude and direction.

• e.g. displacement, velocity, force, momentum.
• In IB, a vector is represented in bold, italicised print.
• Vectors are added in a particular way.

Scalars Vectors

Speed Velocity

Temperature Acceleration

Distance Displacement

Area Force

Entropy Momentum

Volume Drag

Electric potential Electric field

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1. Vector Addition.
• Vectors are added ‘head to tail’ to find the resultant vector.
• For example, a + b:

• If this forms a right-angled triangle, use Pythagoras’ Theorem to find the

length of the resultant, and trigonometry to find the angle.

2. Vector Subtraction.
• To subtract one vector from another, switch the direction of the arrow of the
vector that is to be subtracted, then add the vectors.
• For example, a - b:

• A vector (in this example A) can be resolved into two perpendicular

components. These are usually the x-axis component and the y-axis component.
Their magnitude can be calculated with trigonometry

Αy Α
Ax = A∙ cosθ

Αy = A∙ sinθ

Α =√𝐴𝑥 2 + 𝐴𝑦 2
θ Αx

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Pierce – The American College of Greece IB DP Physics

How to add any number of vectors

F2
F3

F4
F1
F5

1. To add any number of vectors, the first step is to place the vectors in a
suitable system of axis. The goal is to have as many as possible of the vectors fall into
one of the two axis . In the example above, we will define the axis by F1 and F5 .

F2
F3

θ
φ
ω
F4
F1
F5

2. In our newly-defines x-y axis, we use trigonometry to split those vectors that
are not already on the axis, to two perpendicular components. In the example
above,, F2 , F3 and F4 need to be analyzed in two x and y components .

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F2Χ
F2Ψ
F3
F3ψ
F4χ F3χ θ
φ
ω F2Χ
F4 F4ψ
F1
F5

To be able to do so, we need to know the angle each vector forms with the axis. Let’s
take as our test case F4. We know ω, so we can analyze F4 to F4x and F4y by using cosω
and sinω.

Tip: The component that creates the angle gets the cos.

Thus, F2χ , F3ψ and F4ψ will be calculated through cosφ, cosθ and cosω respectively.

Analyzing the original forces, we get

F2χ = F2 cosφ F4χ = F4 sinω
F2ψ = F2 sinφ F4ψ = F4 cosω
F3χ = F3 sinθ
F3ψ = F3 cosθ

3. For each axis, we calculate the net vector Fx and Fψ respectively

Fx = F1 + F2χ - F3χ - F4χ

Fψ = F2ψ + F3ψ - F4ψ – F5

4. Knowing Fx and Fψ, we use the Pythagoras Theorem to find the net vector.

F  Fx2  F2

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Pierce – The American College of Greece IB DP Physics

3. Multiplying a Vector by a Scalar.

• To multiply a vector by a scalar, keep the direction of the vector the same
and multiply the magnitude by the scalar.
• For example, 3 x a:

4. Multiplying Two Vectors.

• The dot product is when two vectors are multiplied to give a scalar.
• For example W = F · d.
• Work is a scalar, but force and displacement are vectors.
• Work is calculated by:
W = F · d = |F| |d| cosθ, where θ is the angle between F and d .

• The cross product is when two vectors are multiplied to give another vector.
• For example, F = q∙vxB.
Force, velocity and magnetic field strength are all vectors (charge is a scalar).
The cross product vxB is calculated by:
vxB = |v| |B| sinθ, where θ is the angle between F and d.
• The direction of the resultant is at right angles to both v and B, given by the
right-hand rule.

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Random errors
A random error, is an error which affects a reading at random.
Sources of random errors include:
 The observer being less than perfect
 The readability of the equipment
 External effects on the observed item

Systematic errors
A systematic error, is an error which occurs at each reading.
Sources of systematic errors include:
 The observer being less than perfect in the same way every time
 An instrument with a zero offset error
 An instrument that is improperly calibrated

Precision
A measurement is said to be accurate if it has little systematic errors. It is an
indication of how close a value is to the true value.

Accuracy
A measurement is said to be precise
if it has little random errors. It is an
indication of how similar repeated
measurements are.
A measurement can be of great
precision but be inaccurate (for
example, if the instrument used had
a zero offset error).

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Pierce – The American College of Greece IB DP Physics

Uncertainty propagation

The uncertainty is an estimate of the possible inaccuracy in a measurement.

• The absolute uncertainty is given in the same units as the measurement.
• The percentage uncertainty is expressed as a percentage of the
measurement.
2.3 ± 0.5 cm = 2.3 cm ± 20%

• When adding or subtracting measurements, add the absolute uncertainties.

• When multiplying or dividing measurements, add the percentage
uncertainties.
• When raising a value to a power, multiply the percentage uncertainty by the
absolute value of the power.

Q= a + b → ΔQ = Δa + Δb

Q= a - b → ΔQ = Δa + Δb

ΔQ Δa Δb
Q= a · b → = +
Q a b

ΔQ Δa Δb
Q= a / b → = +
Q a b

ΔQ Δa
Q= an → =n
Q a

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Pierce – The American College of Greece IB DP Physics

Linear Function & Slope

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Best fit line

In many cases, you will be asked to draw a best fit line in a series of plots, to
determine the slope and its uncertainty. Remember the following:

• Error bars are used to represent uncertainties in a measurement.

• The uncertainty in the y-value is drawn vertically.
• The uncertainty in the x-value is drawn horizontally.
• The best-fit line is the line that best represents the data. It must pass
through as many data points, and through all error bars, if possible.
• To calculate slope uncertainty graphically, find the steepest line that passes
through the upper error bar and the lower error bar. Repeat for the less steep. The
difference (mmax- mmin)/2 is the slope uncertainty.
• Both the steepest and the less steep best fir lines must pass through all
error bars!
Example 1

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Example 2

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NOTES

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NOTES

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NOTES

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