Chapter 1.

Measurement and Vectors

1-1 The Nature of Physics

1-2 Units
1-3 Conversion of Units
1-4 Dimension of Physical Quantities
1-5 Significant Figures
1-6 Vectors
1-7 General Properties of Vectors

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Physics comes from the Greek word Phusis (φύσις) which means the
Nature or the Knowledge of Nature World.

Physics attempts to describe the fundamental nature of the universe and how
it works. It is the science of matter and energy, space and time.

Physics is a body of knowledge organized in a specific and rational way.

Physicists build, test, and connect models in an effort to describe, explain, and
predict reality. This process involves hypotheses, repeatable experiments and
observations, and new hypotheses

Examples of physical phenomena.

From Wikipedia web site

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The laws of physics express relationships among physical quantities. Physical
quantities are numbers that are obtained by measuring physical phenomena. For
example, the length of this room is a physical quantity, as is the amount of time it
takes for you to read this sentence and the temperature of the air in your
classroom.
In Mechanics: Three Basic Physical Quantities
Length ( L)
Mass (M)
Time (t )

Physics Quantity mks – System* unit cgs – System unit

Length Meter (m) Centimeter (cm)
Mass Kilogram (kg) Gram (g)
Time Second (s) Second (s)

* mks System is also known as Standard International System of Units (SI system).
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UNIT PREFIXES
Sometimes it is necessary to work with
measurements that are much smaller or
much larger than the standard SI units.
In these situations, we can use other
units that are related to the standard SI
units by a multiple of ten.

Prefixes are used to denote the different

powers of ten. For example, the prefix
“kilo” means 1000, or 103 while the
prefix “micro” means 0.000 001, or 10−6

Table 1-1 lists prefixes for common multiples of SI units.

These prefixes can be applied to any SI unit; for example,
0.001 second is 1 millisecond (ms) and 1000000 watts is 1
megawatt (MW).

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 Physics Law (formula) is a mathematical relationship among physical quantities
(mass, velocity, Force, Electric Field, … )

Because different systems of units are in use, it is important to know how to covert
from one unit to another unit.

When physical quantities are added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided in an

algebraic equation, the unit can be treated like any other algebraic quantity.

Example 1 : suppose you want to find the distance traveled in 3 hours (h) by a car
moving at a constant rate of 80 kilometers per hour (Km/h)
The distance is the product of the speed 𝑣 and the time t:

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Important:
Here in Saudi Arabia, as in most of the countries, we are using the SI- units. So,
when solving a problem, we need to convert all units to the basic units of the SI
units, which are Kg, m and s.

Example 2 : A car is driven with a speed of 90 Km/hour. Can you tell how much is
that in m/s unit.

Example 3 : How fast the car was driven in Example 2, in miles per hour

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 The word dimension has a special meaning in physics. It denotes the physical
nature of a quantity. Whether a distance is measured in units of feet or meters or
fathoms, it is still a distance. We say its dimension is length.

 The symbols we use in our book to specify the dimensions of length, mass, and
time are L, M, and T, respectively. We shall often use brackets [ ] to denote the
dimensions of a physical quantity.

For example, the symbol we use for speed in this book is v, and in our notation the
dimensions of speed are written 𝑣 = 𝐿/𝑇.
Another example, the dimensions of area A are 𝐴 = 𝐿2 .

 In many situations, you may have to derive or check a specific equation. A useful
and powerful procedure called dimensional analysis can be used to assist in the
derivation or to check your final expression. Dimensional analysis makes use of the
fact that dimensions can be treated as algebraic quantities.

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Example 4 : Show that the expression 𝑣 = 𝑎𝑡 is dimensionally correct, where 𝑣 represents
speed, 𝑎 acceleration, and t an instant of time.

Example 5: Check if the expression v = 𝑚(𝑥𝑓2 − 𝑥𝑖2 ) is dimensionally correct,

where v is the velocity of an object in m/s and xf, xi are the final and initial
positions of the object.

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In general, a significant figure (sig. fig.) is a reliably known digit (other than a
zero used to locate the decimal point).

When multiplying several quantities, the number of significant figures in the final
answer is the same as the number of significant figures in the least accurate of the
quantities being multiplied, where “least accurate” means “having the lowest number
of significant figures.” The same rule applies to division.

For addition and subtraction, you must consider the number of decimal places when
you are determining how many significant figures to report

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Introduction

Coordinate System

Cartesian coordinate
In the Cartesian coordinate system,
horizontal and vertical axes intersect
at a point taken to be the origin.
Cartesian coordinates are also
called rectangular coordinates.

Designation of points in a Cartesian coordinate

system. Every point is labeled with coordinates (x,y)

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Coordinate System
Polar coordinate

In this polar coordinate system, r is the

distance from the origin to the point having
Cartesian coordinates (x, y), and  is
the angle between r and the x-axis.
The plane polar coordinates of a point are
represented by the distance r and the angle
, where  is measured counterclockwise
from the positive x axis.
Cartesian coordinate vs. Polar coordinate

11
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 Physical Quantities are classified as
- Scalars
- Vectors
A scalar quantity is specified by a single
value with an appropriate unit and has no
direction, such as mass, charge, energy

A vector quantity has both magnitude and

direction, such as force, current, velocity

In some books, the boldface font is used to represent a vector ( ... )

and in some, the author uses an underlined letter to represent a vector ( .. )

and in the others as our textbook , an arrow notation is used for the vector ( )

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Equality of Two Vectors
two vectors 𝑨 and 𝑩 may be defined to be equal if they
have the same magnitude and point in the same direction.

Adding Vectors
Geometric methods. To add vector 𝑩 to vector 𝑨, first draw vector 𝑨, with its
magnitude represented by a convenient scale, on graph paper and then draw vector
𝑩 to the same scale with its tail starting from the tip of 𝑨, as shown in the Figure
The resultant vector 𝑹 = 𝑨 + 𝑩 is the vector drawn from the tail of𝑨 to the tip of
𝑩

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Example 6:

Negative of a Vector
The negative of the vector 𝑨 is defined as the vector that when added to 𝑨 gives
zero for the vector sum. That is, 𝑨 + (- 𝑨)= 0. The vectors 𝑨 and - 𝑨 have the
same magnitude but point in opposite directions. -

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Subtracting Vectors
The operation of vector subtraction makes use of the definition of the negative of
a vector. We define the operation 𝑨 - 𝑩 as vector -𝑩 added to vector 𝑨:

The geometric construction for subtracting two vectors in this way is illustrated as

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Components of a Vector and unit Vectors

Unit Vectors
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Adding Vectors using Components
If A and B both have x, y, and z components, we express them in the form

where i, j, and k are the unit vectors along the x, y, and z axis respectively.

The sum of A and B is then

Example 7: If A + B = 0, what can you say about the components of the two
vectors?

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