PHYSICS AND PHYSICAL

MEASUREMENT

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• Measurement
Is the determination of size and magnitude by comparing an
unknown physical quantity with a standard quantity of equal nature
• Physical quantity:
A quantity that can be measured and is able to describe laws of
physics; A physical property that can be quantified by
measurement, expressed as a multiplication of a numerical value
and a unit
• Unit:
A reference/ standard quantity which is used to compare other
quantities of the same nature. These are supposed to be easily
reproduced and are to be accepted internationally
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 STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT
• Units are standardized so that scientists are able to express and
compare measurements in a meaningful way.
• Standard units of measurement are fixed and there is uniformity
between anyone that uses them in order to have the same
sense of measurement
• To be useful a standard of measurement must be: invariant,
accessible and reproducible
• Most countries in the world use SI units as a standard of
measurement.
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 STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT…….

SI UNIT: International System of Units; from the

original French name Système International d’Unités

Accepted SI format
• ms-1 not m/s
• ms-2 not m/s/s
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 CLASSIFICATION OF QUANTITIES

Classified into two:

• Fundamental quantities: expressed in
fundamental units
• Derived quantities: Expressed in derived units

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 FUNDAMENTAL QUANTITIES

Also known as base quantities; quantities which are

independent: do not need other physical quantities for
their measurements.
• Only expressed relative to the procedure used to
measure them.

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 THE FUNDAMENTALS
FUNDAMENTAL QUANTITY S.I UNIT
Name Symbol Name Symbol
Mass m kilogram kg
Length l metre m
Time t second s
Temperature T kelvin K
Current I ampere A
Amount of a substance n mole mol
A.M.BANDA Luminous Intensity lv candela cd
 DERIVED QUANTITIES

Physical quantities that are dependent on base

quantities; expressed in as algebraic combinations of
base quantities; derived from the base quantities.

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 DERIVED QUANTITIES……
Quantity Name Symbol SI Base units
Area square metre A m2
Volume Cubic metre V m3
Density Kilogram per cubic metre ρ Kg.m-3
Speed/ Velocity Meters per second v m.s -1
Acceleration Meters per second squared a m.s -2
Force Newton N m.kg.s-2
Pressure pascal Pa m-1·kg·s-2
Energy joule J m2·kg·s-2
Power watt W m2·kg·s-3
Voltage, electric potential difference, volt V m2·kg·s-3·A -1
electromotive force
Capacitance Farad F m-2·kg-1·s 4·A 2
Frequency hertz Hz s-1

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 UNIT PREFIXES

• It is impractical to use the same unit for bigger

quantities and tiny ones as such metric unit
prefixes are used to indicate whether a unit is a
multiple or fraction of the base 10.
• Use of prefixes makes it easier to express very
large or very small quantities
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 METRIC (SI) PREFIXES

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 CONVERSION OF UNITS
• Expression of a quantity using a different unit of measurement.

For example 1kWh to J

1kWh = 1kW x 1 h
= 1000W x 60 x 60 s
= 1000 Js-1 x 3600 s
= 3600000 J
= 3.6 x 106 J
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More examples for conversion of units??

• 100km/hr

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 UNCERTAINTY AND ERRORS IN
MEASUREMENT
Uncertainty of measurement:
Is the doubt that exits around the result of a measurement .
• No matter how hard we try to control things, some experimental
error occurs
Error:
Differences between observed (measured) values and the actual
value
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 CLASSES OF ERROR
1. Systematic error
• Affects measurements by the same amount or proportion as long as
the reading is conducted the same way every time
• Cause a random set of measurements to be spread about a value
rather than being spread about the accepted value
• They influence measurements accuracy: they are precise but not
accurate
• They are not reduced by multiple readings but can be minimized by
identifying the causes and minimizing them and by always comparing
values against standards
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 CAUSES OF SYSTEMATIC ERROR

• It is mainly caused by observational error, imperfect

instrument calibration and environmental interference
• Forgetting to tare/ zero an instrument gives a
measurement that is usually off by the same amount
• Not reading meniscus at eye will give in accurate
result that is always higher or lower than the actual
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value
 CLASSES OF ERROR…….
2. Random errors
• They are not precise but cluster around the true value
• Are due to variations in performance of the instrument and the operator
• Repeating the measurements gives a randomly different result
• They affect precision
• Can be minimized by conducting multiple measurements and averaging
the collected data
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 CAUSES OF RANDOM ERROR

• Change in the environment in between

measurement
• Use of imprecise or unreliable instruments
• Poorly controlled experiments
• etc
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 PRECISION AND ACCURACY

• It is important to minimize error by being precise

and accurate to get the most reliable results in
physical measurement

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 ACCURACY

• It is how close a measured value is to the actual/

true/ accepted value.
• An accurate experiment has a low systematic error

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 PRECISION

• It is how close measured values are to each other

• The measure of the degree of consistency and
agreement among independent measurements
• A precise experiment has a low random error

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