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CIE AS Physics Your notes
1.2 SI Units
Contents
SI Units
Homogeneity of Physical Equations & Powers of Ten
Page 1 of 7
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SI Units
Your notes
SI Base Quantities
There is a seemingly endless number of units in Physics
These can all be reduced to seven base units from which every other unit can be derived
Only five of these are required for this course
These seven units are referred to as the SI Base Units; this is the only system of measurement that is
officially used in almost every country around the world
SI Base Units Table
QUANTITY SI BASE UNIT SYMBOL
Mass kilogram kg
Length metre m
Time second s
Current ampere A
Temperature kelvin K
Exam Tip
You will only be required to use these five SI base units in this course, so make sure you know them!
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Derived Units
Derived units are non-SI units, such as joules or pascals Your notes
These derived units can all be written as combinations of the SI base units
To deduce the combination of base units, it is necessary to use the definition of the quantity
The newton (N), the unit of force, is defined by the equation:
Force = mass × acceleration
Writing this equation in terms of the units of each quantity gives:
N = kg × m s–2 = kg m s–2
Therefore, the Newton (N), written in terms of SI base units, is kg m s–2
The joule (J), the unit of energy, is defined by the equation:
energy = ½ × mass × velocity2
J = kg × (m s–1)2 = kg m2 s–2
Therefore, the joule (J) in SI base units is kg m2 s–2
The pascal (Pa), the unit of pressure, is defined by the equation:
pressure = force ÷ area
Pa = N ÷ m2 = (kg m s–2) ÷ m2 = kg m–1 s–2
Therefore, the Pascal (Pa) in SI base units is kg m–1 s–2
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Homogeneity of Physical Equations & Powers of Ten

Your notes
Homogeneity of Physical Equations
An important skill is to be able to check the homogeneity of physical equations using the SI base units
The combined units on either side of the equation should be the same
To check the homogeneity of physical equations:
Check the units on both sides of an equation
Determine if they are equal
If they do not match, the equation will need to be adjusted
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Worked example
Your notes
The speed of sound v in a gas is given by
γp
v=
ρ
where p is gas pressure and ρ is gas density.
Show that γ has no units.
Answer:
Step 1: Determine the units on the left:
The only term on the left is speed, which has units of m s−1
Step 2: Apply the homogeneity of physical equations:
This equation describes the speed of sound waves and is therefore physical
This means it must be homogeneous, so the units on the left must be equal to the combined
units on the right
Step 3: Determine the combined SI base units of pressure:
Pressure is defined as the force F (units of N or kg m s−2) per unit area (units of m2) with the
equation:
F
P=
A
Written in terms of units:
kg ms−2
Pa = = kg m−1 s−2
m2
Step 4: Determine the combined SI base units of density:
Density is defined as mass m (units of kg) per unit volume V (units of m3) with the equation:
m
ρ=
V
Written in terms of units:
kg
unitsofdensity = = kg m−3
m3
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Step 5: Equate the units of both sides of the equation:

The units of γ will be labelled as G Your notes
G kg m−1 s−2
ms−1 = = G m2 s−2 = G ms−1
kg m−3
This shows us that the square root of G is equal to 1, so G is equal to 1
Therefore γ has no units - this is sometimes called being dimensionless
Exam Tip
There were multiple ways of answering this - you could have rearranged the equation to make γ the
subject and shown that the other side of the equation and no units, or you could have found that,
without γ in the equation, the equation was homogenous.
Page 6 of 7
Powers of Ten
Physical quantities can span a huge range of values Your notes
For example, the diameter of an atom is about 10–10 m (0.0000000001 m), whereas the width of a
galaxy may be about 1021 m (1000000000000000000000 m)
This is a difference of 31 powers of ten
Powers of ten are numbers that can be achieved by multiplying 10 times itself
It is useful to know the prefixes for certain powers of ten
Powers of Ten Table
PREFIX ABBREVIATION POWER OF 10
Tera- T 1012
Giga- G 109
Mega- M 106
Kilo- k 103
Centi- c 10−2
Milli- m 10−3
Micro- μ 10−6
Nano- n 10−9
Pico- p 10−12
Exam Tip
You will often see very large or very small numbers categorised by powers of ten, so it is very important
you become familiar with these as getting these prefixes wrong is a very common exam mistake!
Page 7 of 7

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CIE AS Physics Your notes

QUANTITY SI BASE UNIT SYMBOL

Homogeneity of Physical Equations & Powers of Ten

Step 5: Equate the units of both sides of the equation:

PREFIX ABBREVIATION POWER OF 10

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