Lesson 1:

Measurement &
Physical
Quantities
 Systems of
Measurement
✘ The English or British system ✘ SI system
comprises units such as: ✘ The metric system constitutes
✗ pound for force units based on powers of 10,
✗ yard for length which makes it the preferred
✗ once for volume system to used in science.
✘ For example: 1 kilometer (km)
is equal to 103 meters (m), and 1
milligram (mg) is equal to 10–3
gram (gm).

3
 “In physical science one knows
what he is talking about only
when he can measure & express
it in numbers.” – William Thomson
(British Mathematician & Physicist)

4
 TWO METHODS OF MEASUREMENT
1. Direct Method of Measurement
✗ Example: measuring the edge of the table –
compare it with some given standard
✗ A ruler is placed along the edge of the table,
& the number of times the whole edge is
covered by the ruler is determined.
✗ The length of the table = how many times L = 3 x 1 foot

that of the length of the ruler. (The length of L = 3 feet

the ruler has been used as a standard for
comparison.)

5
2. Indirect Method of Measurement
✗ Example: area of the table
✗ The lengths of two of its adjoining edges are
measured indirectly. A W
✗ The area is obtained from the product of the
two lengths.
✗ Note: The area is not compared with any L
standard area; a computation is made from A=LxW
quantities which have been measured directly.
A=LxW

6
 Measurement
– is the process of comparing an unknown
quantity with a known quantity or with a standard

7
 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES
I. According to Origin
A. Fundamental Quantities - simplest types of quantities & cannot be reduced
further
1. Length – any dimension (length, width, height, arc of a circle, altitude, base,
radius, diameter, distance) being measured using linear units (cm, m, in, ft., km,
miles, yard, mm)
2. Mass – amount of molecules or particles in a body
3. Time – lapse of one event to another event; duration

8
 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES

B. Derived Quantities – quantities that are taken or formulated from

two or more fundamental quantities
Example: Area = LW; V = LWH; d = m/V; speed = d/t

9
 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES
II. According to Specification
A. Scalar quantity – has magnitude and appropriate unit
Example: speed = 60 km/hr.

60
/ hr 60

km
km km
60 

/h r
/h
r

r
60  km / h
B. Vector quantity – has magnitude, appropriate unit and direction
Example: velocity = 60 km/hr. to the East

60 km / hr 60 km / hr 60 km / hr 60 km / hr

10
 Fundamental Quantities & SI
Base Units
QUANTITY UNIT SYMBOL
Length Meter m
Mass Kilogram kg Unit – is a
value or
Time Second s quantity in
terms of which
Temperature Kelvin K other values or
Electric Current Ampere A quantities are
expressed.
Amount of Substance Mole mol
Luminous Intensity Candela cd

11
 Fundamental Units of Mass & Force Based System
System Length Units Mass Units Force Units Time Units

Metric
CGS Centimeter (cm) Gram (g) Dyne Second (s)
MKS Meter (m) Kilogram (kg) Newton (N) Second (s)

English
FPS Foot (ft) Slug Pound (lb) Second (s)
 Unit Prefixes
✘ A prefix is a letter or a group of letters added at the beginning of the base
word to change its meaning.
✘ In measurement, a unit prefix or metric prefix can be used to make a new
unit larger or smaller than the base unit.

Power of Ten Prefix Abbreviation Power of Ten Prefix Abbreviation

1012 tera T 10–2 centi c

109 giga G 10–3 milli m
106 mega M 10–6 micro 
103 kilo k 10–9 nano n
 Example

✘ The wavelength of the green emission line in the spectrum

of hydrogen is approximately 486 nanometers (nm).
Express this length in meters.
✘ Solution: n is the abbreviation of nano (10–9)
486nm = 486 x 10–9 m

14
 DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
 Dimensional analysis is a practical way of checking
mathematical equations by finding out whether they are
consistent in terms of their dimensions.
 The dimensions of a given quantity can be reduced to a
combination of the fundamental dimensions.
✘ As mentioned earlier there are three basic or fundamental
16
quantities. These 3 quantities are:
Quantity SI Unit
Length (L) m (meter)

Mass (M) kg (kilogram)

Time (T) s (second)

✘ Dimension of a physical quantity shows how a derived

quantity is related to the fundamental quantities of length,
mass and time.
✘ [ ] – the brackets denote the dimension of a physical quantity.
[length] = L 17

[mass] = M
[time] = T
Examples:
Relate the following derived quantities to the 3 basic or
fundamental quantities (length, mass, time).
1. [Area] = L x W
=LxL
= L2
2. Velocity – change of displacement
18

3. [Volume] = length x width x height

= [length] x [width] x [height]
=LxLxL
= L3
 Many problems in physics require the conversion of one unit of
measurement to another.
✘ Unit Equality or conversion factor is an equation that shows
the equivalent amounts of different units.

Unit Equivalent Unit Unit Equivalent Unit Unit Equivalent Unit

1 inch 2.54 cm 1 atm 101325 Pa 1 slug 14.59 kg

1 gal 3.788 L 1 foot 12 inches 1N 0.2248 lb

1 calorie 4.186 J 1 mile 5280 ft 1 eV 1.602 x 10-19 J

 Examples
1. Problem: How many inches are there in 12 m?
✘ Solution: From the given table there is no direct conversion from inches to meters.
Relate inches to centimeters by first converting the metric quantities.
1 in = 2.54 cm; 100 cm = 1 m
✘ Using d as the variable to represent the length of 12 m and the appropriate conversion
factors, the solution for the problem is as follows.

✘ There are 472 in for every 12 m.

2. MPIWI uses cubic meter (m3) as the unit of a volume of water used in each
household. Determine how many cubic21meters are there in20-L tank of water.
✘ Solution: Let the volume of the tank be represented by V. The unit equalities that
can be used are the following:
 1L = 1,000 mL; 1 mL = 1 cm3; 100 cm = 1m
 Setting the equation:

There are 0.02 m3 in a 20 L tank of water.

Note: 100 cm3 is not equal to 1 m3.
3. The speed of a car as measured by a speedometer is 90 kilometers per
hour (km/hr). Convert this unit to22centimeter per second (cm/s)
✘ Solution: For this case, the unit is expressed in a ratio, convert units used
in both the numerator and the denominator. Let v represent the speed of
the car. The following unit equalities are:
 1 km = 1,000 m; 1 m = 100 cm; 1 hr = 3,600 s
 The equation is:
SOME CONVERSION FACTORS FOR LENGTH AND MASS
UNIT EQUIVALENT UNIT
1 centimeter = 0.3937 inches (in)
1 inch = 2.54 centimeters
1 meter = 39.37 inches
1 meter = 3.28 feet (ft)
1 mile = 5280 feet
1 mile = 1.609 kilometers
1 kilogram = 2.205 pounds (lb)
1 pound = 453.6 grams
1 ton (metric) = 2205 pounds
1 ton (British) = 2000 pounds
1 pound = 16 ounces (0z)
 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
 A “short cut” to writing extremely large or small numbers by expressing
them as a number between 1 & 10 multiplied by a power of 10.
 Example:
✗ Velocity of light = 30,000,000,000 cm/s
✗ Mass of electron = 0.000000000000000000000000000000911 kg

✗ Avogadro’s number = 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

molecules/mole
 POWERS OF TEN
NUMBER POWER OF 10
0.000000000001 10-12
0.000000001 10-9
0.000001 10-6
0.001 10-3
0.01 10-2
0.1 10-1
10.0 101
100.0 102
1 000.0 103
1 000 000.0 106
1 000 000 000.0 109
1 000 000 000 000.0 1012
 ANSWER
✘ Velocity of light = 30,000,000,000 cm/s
= 3 x 1010 cm/s
✘ Mass of electron =
0.000000000000000000000000000000911 kg
= 9.11 x 10–31 kg
✘ Avogadro’s number = 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
molecules/mole
= 6.02 x 1023 molecules/mole