PHYSICAL QUANTITIES AND THEIR UNITS

Physical quantity refers to property of an object or a system that can be quantified by

measurement or by calculations. It simply means any property of a material or a system in which
we can measure or calculate. Examples of objects can be book, whiteboard, and desk. Including
objects that can move such as car, motorcycle, ball etc. some of the properties that we can
measure or calculate with regards to the given examples of objects are length, height, breadth,
mass area, volume, distance, time, speed, acceleration etc.
Units of physical quantity refer to the terms that are used in specifying a physical quantity.
Examples of units of physical quantities are meter, kilometer, gram kilogram, seconds, minute,
hour etc. Measuring a physical quantity without stating its unit is meaningless. For example, the
distance from the first seat to the last seat in this class is 6 meters. Where 6 is the value of the
physical quantity (distance) known as magnitude (numerical value) and meters is the unit of the
measured physical quantity has been specified. Saying that the distance is 6 without including
the unit, one would think whether it is 6 centimeters or 6 kilometers 6 meters. Another example
is the time taking to cover the distance from the first seat to the last seat in this class is 15
seconds. Saying that the time is 15 without specifying the unit is also meaningless because one
will be thinking whether it is 15 minutes or 15 days or 15 hours or 15 seconds.
Physical quantities are divided into:-
 Fundamental quantities
 Derived quantities
Fundamental quantities are the physical quantities upon which other quantities depend on. The
table below shows the example of fundamental quantities and their units.
The table below gives some of the main physical quantities and their units
Quantities Units
Length Meter, millimeter, centimeter, kilometer etc.
Height Meter, millimeter, centimeter, kilometer etc.
Width Meter, millimeter, centimeter, kilometer etc.
Breadth Meter, millimeter, centimeter, kilometer etc.
Distance Meter, millimeter, centimeter, kilometer etc.
Mass Gram, kilogram
Time Seconds, minutes
Temperature Celsius, kelvin, Fahrenheit
Current Ampere
Angle Degrees, radian

Derived quantities are those physical quantities obtained as a result of combining two or more
fundamental quantities. Derived quantities simply depend on the fundamental quantities. The
table below shows the example of derive quantities and their units.
 Derived quantities Units
Area m2, mm2, cm2, km2 etc.
Volume m3, mm3, cm3, km3 etc.
Density Kgm-3
Speed ms-1
Velocity ms-1
Acceleration ms-2
Force kgms-2, Newton(N)
Work Kgm2s-2, Nm, Joules(J)
Power Kgm2s-3 , Nms-1, Js-1, watts(W)
Momentum kgms-1

System of International Unit (S.I Unit)

System of International units refers to the globally accepted units of measurement. Different
quantities have different units for measurement for instance mass could be measured in gram (g),
centigram (cg), milligram (mg), kilogram (kg), and many more. Upon all these units of
measurements there is only one acceptable globally among them which is kilogram (kg) as the
S.I units of mass. The table below gives the S.I Units of some physical quantities.
Physical quantities Units
Length M
Height M
Width M
Breadth M
Distance M
Mass Kg
Time Seconds(s)
Temperature Kelvin(k)
Current Ampere(A)
Angle Radian (rads)
Area m2
Volume m3
Density kgm-3
Speed ms-1
Velocity ms-1
Acceleration ms-2
Force Newton(N)
Work Joules(J)
Power Watts(W)
Momentum Kgms-1
 Factors
Factors are numbers used to reduce or increase the digits of the quantities when the quantity is
very large or a very small. Factors are divided into:-
 Multiple factors
 Submultiple factors
Multiple factors are those factors with positive powers. The table below shows some of the
multiple factors with their prefixes and abbreviations.
Table 1-a Multiple factors and Its Prefix

Multiple Factors Prefix Abbreviation

101 Deka Da
102 Hecto H
103 Kilo K
106 Mega M
109 Giga G
1012 Tera T

Sub-multiple factors are those factors with negative powers. The table below shows some of the
sub-multiple factors with their prefixes and abbreviations.
Table 1-b Submultiple factors and its Prefix

Submultiple Factors Prefi Abbreviation

x
10-1 deci d
-2
10 centi c
10-3 milli m
-6
10 micro µ
10-9 nano n
-12
10 pico p

Unit conversions
Unit conversion of time 60seconds = 1minute
60minutes = 1hr
24hours = 1day
7 days = 1 week
30 days = 1 month
Unit conversion of length 10milimeters = 1centimeter
100centimeters = 1meter
1000meters = 1kilometer

Unit conversion of mass 1000grams = 1kilogram

Worked examples
Change the following to their S.I Units
(a) 2 N/cm2 (b) 0.005g/mm-3
Solutions
(a) Looking at above pressure is a combination of force and length as we know that the S.I unit
of force is Newton we don’t have any case with it but cm is the unit of length. However, its
S.I unit needed to be there in S.I unit of pressure.

2N force
pressure= = −2 2N
c enti m eter
2
Area the submultiple factors table earlier is10 .¿ ∴ pressure= ¿ ¿
¿
(b) Density = 0.005g/mm3
mass
Density=
volume
0.005 g
Density= 3
milimeter
But the S.I units of mass is kilogram and that of volume is meter3
The value of milli from the submultiple factor is 10-1
Converting gram to kilogram is given as kg=g/1000
0.005 kg /1000
Density= 3 3
(10¿¿−3) meter ¿
0.000005 kg
Density= −9 3
10 meter
−6
5× 10 kg
Density= −9 3
10 m
−6−(−9)
5× 10 kg
Density= 3
m
−6 +9
5× 10 kg
Density= 3
m
3
5× 10 kg
Density= 3
m
 5× 1000 kg
Density= 3
m
−3
Density=5000 kg m
Dimension of a Physical Quantity
Dimension are playing a major role in physics; it is used to determine how many fundamental
quantities are there in derived quantities. Beside that it could be used to verify right and wrong
formulas in a given form of expression. This dimension is developed with the following three
fundamental quantities as expressed below:
Dimension of Mass => [M]
Dimension of Length => [L]
Dimension of Time => [T]
The table below gives the dimensions of different physical quantities
Quantity Definition Unit Dimension
L2
Area Length × m2
breath
L3
Volume Length x m3
breath × height
Velocity LT-1
ms-1
Distance/Time
Acceleratio Change in LT−2
velocity/Time ms-2
n
Force Mass × kgms−2 MLT−2
acceleration
Work Force × Nm or ML2T−2
Distance joule (J)
Power Work/time Watt(W) ML2T−3

Determine the dimension of the following

(a) Velocity (b) power
Solution
(a) Velocity=displacement /time
L
Velocity=
T
−1
Velocity=¿
 work done
(b) power=
time
force × distance
Power=
time
−2
MLT × L
Power=
T
2 −2
ML T
Power=
T
2 −3
Power=M L T
Power = ML2T-3

Example 2
The period of a simple pendulum depends on the length “L”, acceleration due to gravity “g”
only. What is the exact form of the relation?

Solutions
x y
Tα L g ……………………1
x y
T =K L g …………………2

But g=L T −2 …………………..3

Putting equation 3 into

x
T =k L ¿ ………………4
x y −2 y
T =k L L T …………….5
x+ y −2 y
T =k L T ……………..6
0 1 x+ y −2 y
L T =k L T ……………….7

Comparing the dimensions on both sides of equation 7

0 x+ y
L =L ………………8
1 −2 y
T =T ……………..9

Equating the powers

0=x+ y ……………..10

1=−2 y …………….11
Solving equation 10 and 11 simultaneously
1 −2 y
=
−2 −2
−1
y=
2
−1
Putting y= into equation 10
2
−1
0=x+( )
2
1
0=x−
2
−1
=x
2
1 −1
Therefore x= and y=
2 2
Putting the value of x and y into equation 2
1 −1
2 2
T =K L g
1
2
KL
T= 1
g2
K √L
T=
√g

T =k
√ L
g

Example 3
The period of the vibration of liquid of surface of a drop depends on the density, radius and
surface tension of the liquid. Deduce the dependence of the period of the vibration of a liquid on
these quantities.

Solutions

LetT = period , ¿ density , γ =¿ surface tension and r =radius

x y z
Tα ρ r γ …………….1
 x y z
T =k ρ r γ …………2

The dimension of radius=L …………3

mass M −3
The dimension of density is given as ρ= = 3 =M L …………….4
volume L
−2
force mass ×acceleration ML T −2
The dimension of surface tension is given as, γ = = = =M T
length length L
……5

Putting equation 3, 4 and 5 into equation 2

−3 x y
T =( M L ) L ¿ …………………6
x −3 x y z −2 z
T =M L L M T
x +z −3 x+ y −2 z
T =M L T ………….7
x +z y−3 x −2 z
T =M L T

Balancing the dimensions on both sides

0 0 1 x+ z y−3 x −2 z
M L T =K M L T ……………………..8
0 x+z
M =M ……………….9
0 y−3 x
L =L ……………….10
1 −2 z
T =T ………………….11

Equating the powers

0=x+ z ……………..12

0= y−3 x ……………13

1=−2 z …………….14

Solving equation 12, 13 and 14 simultaneously

1 −2 z −1
= z= …………..15
−2 −2 2
−1
Put z= into equation 12
2
−1
0=x+( )
2
 1
0=x−
2
1
x=
2
1
Put x= into equation 13
2
1
0= y−3( )
2
3
0= y−
2
3
y=
2
1 3 −1
Put ¿ , y= and z= into equation 2
2 2 2
1 3 −1
T =k ρ 2 r 2 γ 2

1 3 1 1
ρ2 r 2 ρ 2 (r 3 )2 √ ρ √ r3
T =k ¿k ¿k
1
2
1
√r
γ γ 2

T =k
√ ρr 3
γ