Base units

All units in science are derived from seven base units:

Mass kilogram kg
Distance metre m
Time second s
Current ampere A
Amount mole mol
Temperature Kelvin K
Light Intensity candela cd
Although it is not formally an SI unit, the degree Celsius (°C) is often used as a
measure of temperature
 Derived units

There are many other units that we use, but all of these are derived by
multiplication or division of some combinations of the base units.

For example, speed is found by dividing the distance travelled by the time
taken. Therefore, the unit of speed is metres (m) divided by seconds (s)
which can be written as m/s.
 Base unit
Quantity Unit Symbol
equivalent

Velocity metre per second ms-1 ms-1

metre per second

Acceleration ms-2 ms-2
squared

Force Newton N kg ms-2

Work or Energy joule J kg m2s-2

Power watt W kg m2s-3

Pressure Pascal Pa kg m-1s-2

Frequency hertz Hz s-1

Charge coulomb C As
The unit of force is the newton. What is this in base SI units?

Answer

The newton is defined from the equation:

force = mass × acceleration unit of mass
= kg unit of acceleration
= m s−2

Insert into the defining equation: units of newton = kg × m × s−2

or kg m s−2.
 Prefixes

Sometimes, the basic unit is either too large or too small.

It would not be sensible to use metres to measure the gap between the
terminals of a spark plug in a car engine.
Instead, you would use millimetres (mm). The prefix ‘milli’ means divide
by 1000 or multiply by 10−3.
Here a quick list of the common quantities
used:
Homework
Using standardform
 Another way to cope with very large or very small quantities is to use standard form. Here, the
numerical part of a quantity is written as a single digit followed by a decimal point, and as many
digits after the decimal point as are justified; this is then multiplied by 10 to the required power.
Making estimates of physical quantities

It is often useful to be able to estimate the size, or order of magnitude, of a quantity.

The order of magnitude is the power of ten to which the number is raised.
The ability to estimate orders of magnitude is valuable when planning and carrying
out experiments or when suggesting theories.
Having an idea of the expected result provides a useful check that a silly error has not been
made.
This is also true when using a calculator. For example, the acceleration of free fall at the
Earth's surface is about 10m s—2. If a value of 9800m s-2 is calculated, then this is
obviously wrong and a simple error in the power of ten is likely to be the cause.
Examples of values of distances
Homework.
 Homogenous Equations

The units on both sides of the equation must be the same.

Look at this equation:

3kg + 6 kg = 9m
The numbers are correct but the units don’t make sense.
For an equation to make sense, the units on one side must be the same as
on the other. The equation must be homogenous.
 Some examples are not quite so easy. Look at this equation:
6kg x 3 ms-2 = 18N
This equation is actually correct (It's an example of Newton's Second Law).
F = m.a
What it shows is that newtons are equivalent to kg.ms-2.
Example.
Find the base units for joules.
An equation for joules (energy) is
work = force x distance.
Put the units in the right hand side.
Force x distance is equivalent to newtons x metres.
But newtons x metres is equivalent to kg.ms-2 x m
Simplified that becomes kg.m2s-2.
That's the units for the right hand side of the
equation. And because the equation is
homogenous, that must be the units of the left
hand side too.

So joules are equivalent to kg.m2s-2.

Homework