WEEK 1:

MEASUREMENT IN
PHYSICS
PHYSICS
A branch of science that deals with the
study of natural laws in the physical world,
such as laws involving force, energy, and
light.
 PHYSICS
CLASSICAL MODERN
SPECIAL AND GENERAL
MECHANICS
RELATIVITY
HEAT AND THERMODYNAMICS NUCLEAR PHYSICS

OPTICS QUANTUM MECHANICS

ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM PARTICLE PHYSICS

OTHER DISCOVERIES FROM
WAVE MOTION AND SOUND
1900 ONWARD
CLASSICAL PHYSICS
Deals with the macroscopic
objects moving at speeds very
small compared to the speed of
light in vacuum.
CLASSICAL PHYSICS
 MECHANICS deals with motion, force, work,
energy, and fluids.
 HEAT AND THERMODYNAMICS deals with
the effects of heat when added to or removed
from a system, the methods of heat transfer,
and the transformation of heat energy to
mechanical energy or work and vice versa.
CLASSICAL PHYSICS
 OPTICS deals with the study of light and its
properties.
 ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM deals with
phenomena associated with electrical charges
(whether at rest or moving), magnetism, and
the relationship between electricity and
magnetism.
CLASSICAL PHYSICS
 WAVE MOTION AND SOUND deals with
properties, transmission, and perception of
different types of waves.
MODERN PHYSICS
Deals with the post-Newtonian
concepts in the areas of physics.
MODERN PHYSICS
 SPECIAL RELATIVITY deals with phenomena
associated when an object moves with speeds
approaching the speed of light in vacuum while
GENERAL RELATIVITY tells how matter
curves space-time and the curvature of space-
time dictates the trajectory of matter and light.
MODERN PHYSICS
 NUCLEAR PHYSICS deals with the properties
of and the reactions within the atomic nucleus.
 QUANTUM MECHANICS als with the nature
and behavior of matter and energy on the
atomic and subatomic levels.
 PARTICLE PHYSICS deals with the building
blocks of matter called elementary particles.
1.1| THE MEASURING PROCESS
MEASUREMENT is the process of comparing
something with a standard.
 Metric System
 mks system (meter, kilogram, and second)
 cgs system (centimeter, gram, and second)
 English System
 fps system (foot, pound, and second)
1.1| THE MEASURING PROCESS
The INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS (Le
Systeme International d’Unites), is the modern form
of the metric system.
 FUNDAMENTAL QUANTITIES
 DERIVED QUANTITIES
1.1| THE MEASURING PROCESS
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS
 FUNDAMENTAL QUANTITIES are basic
quantities that are independent of one another
(e.g. length, mass time, thermodynamic
temperature, electric current, luminous
intensity, and the amount of substance).
 DERIVED QUANTITIES are combinations of
fundamental quantities (e.g. acceleration,
density, work, and energy).
1.1| THE MEASURING PROCESS
BASE OR FUNDAMENTAL UNITS are the units
corresponding to the fundamental quantities.
 SI FUNDAMENTAL UNITS
PHYSICAL QUANTITY UNIT SYMBOL
mass kilogram kg
electric current ampere A
time second s
temperature Kelvin K
amount of substance mole mol
length meter m
luminous intensity candela cd
1.2| SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
SCIENTIFIC NOTATION is a convenient and widely
used method of expressing large and small number
(N x 10n).
 300, 000, 000 m/s = 3 x 108 m/s
 0.000 000 62 kg = 6.2 x 10-7 kg
 SI PREFIXES
SI PREFIX SYMBOL MULTIPLIER SI PREFIX SYMBOL MULTIPLIER
yotta- Y 1024 yocto- y 10-24
zeta- Z 1021 zepto- z 10-21
exa- E 1018 atto- a 10-18
peta- P 1015 femto- f 10-15
tera- T 1012 pico- p 10-12
giga- G 109 nano- n 10-9
mega- M 106 micro- μ 10-6
kilo- k 103 milli- m 10-3
hecto- h 102 centi- c 10-2
deca- da 101 deci- d 10-1
1.2| SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
PRACTICE EXERCISE:
Express the following in scientific notation.
a. 0.000 646
b. 5, 430, 000
c. 0.000123
d. 1, 000
e. 5, 678, 912, 340, 000
1.3| DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS is the technique of
converting between units.
 UNIT EQUALITY or conversion factor is an
equation that shows the equivalent amounts of
different units.
 COMMON SI-ENGLISH UNIT EQUALITIES
EQUIVALENT EQUIVALENT EQUIVALENT
UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT
2.54
1 atmosphere 101, 325 14.59
1 inch (in) centimeters 1 slug
(atm) pascals (Pa) kilograms (kg)
(cm)
3.785 liters 0.2248
1 gallon (gal) 1 foot (ft) 12 in 1 Newton (N)
(L) pounds (lb)

4.184 joules 1 electronvolt 1.602 x 10-19

1 calorie (cal) 1 mile (mi) 5, 280 ft
(J) (eV) joules (J)
1.3| DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
PRACTICE EXERCISE:
1. Convert (a) 55 km to m and (b) 12 g to kg.
Express your answers in scientific notation.
1.3| DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
PRACTICE EXERCISE:
2. The SI unit of force is the Newton, represented
by capital letter N. One Newton of force gives a
1.0 kg body an acceleration of 1.0 m/s2. 1N is
equal to 1 . A smaller unit of force is the
dyne. 1 dyne is equal to 1 . How many dynes
are there in 1N?
1.4| UNCERTAINTY AND ERROR
ANALYSIS
 UNCERTAINTY is a way of expressing an
error.
 ERROR is the deviation of a measured value
from the expected or true value.

measure value = (true value ± uncertainty )

units
1.4| UNCERTAINTY AND ERROR
ANALYSIS
 1.4.1 ACCURACY AND PRECISION
 1.4.2 RANDOM VERSUS SYSTEMATIC
ERROR
 1.4.2a PERCENT ERROR AND PERCENT
DIFFERENCE
 1.4.2b VARIANCE
1.4.1| ACCURACY AND PRECISION
 ACCURACY refers to the closeness of a
measured value to the expected or true value
of physical quantity.
 PRECISION represents how close or
consistent the independent measurements of
the same quantity are to one another.
ACCURACY AND PRECISION
ACCURACY AND PRECISION
1.4.2| RANDOM VERSUS
SYSTEMATIC ERRORS
 RANDOM ERROR results from the
unpredictable or inevitable changes during data
measurement (e.g. electrical noise, variation in
temperature, wind presence).
* affects the precision of measurements
1.4.2| RANDOM VERSUS
SYSTEMATIC ERRORS
 SYSTEMATIC ERROR comes from the
measuring instrument in the design of the
experiment itself.
* limits the accuracy of results
1.4.2a| PERCENT ERROR
AND PERCENT DIFFERENCE
 PERCENT ERROR is calculated when there is
an expected or true value of a quantity, where
xT is the accepted true value , and x is the
measured value.
* considered in judging the accuracy of a
measurement.
percent error = x 100
1.4.2a| PERCENT ERROR
AND PERCENT DIFFERENCE
SAMPLE PROBLEM:
Find the percent error of each measurement of the
latent heat of vaporization (LV) of water at 100⁰C if
the accepted value is 540cal/g. The obtained values
of LV are 532 cal/g and 536 cal/g.
1.4.2a| PERCENT ERROR
AND PERCENT DIFFERENCE
 PERCENT DIFFERENCE is the measuremnet
of how far apart the different measured values
are from each other.
*indication of precision
percent difference = x 100
1.4.2a| PERCENT ERROR
AND PERCENT DIFFERENCE
SAMPLE PROBLEM:
Two trials were performed in an experiment to
determine the latent heat of vaporization (LV)of water
at 100⁰C. The values of water obtained were 532 cal/g
and 536 cal/g. Find the percent difference between the
two values.
1.4.2b|VARIANCE
Variance measures the squared deviation of each
number in the set from the mean, wherein the
variance is σ2, measurements of physical quantity is
x, the mean is x, N is the number of measurements
done, and the standard deviation is σ.

σ2

σ = √σ2
STEPS: COMPUTATION OF VARIANCE
1. Take the mean of the measurements, .
2. Take the deviation of each measurement from
the mean, x - x .
3. Square each deviation, (x - x)2 .
4. Get the sum of the squares of each deviation,

5. Divide the sum of the squares by the number

of measurements in the set.
1.4.2b| VARIANCE
SAMPLE PROBLEM:
During an experiment in a physics laboratory class, a
group of five students was asked to measure the
period of a simple pendulum. The group came up with
the following measurements: 2.3s, 2.4s, 2.2s, 2.5s,
and 2.1s. Determine the (a) mean, (b) variance, (c)
standard deviation, and (d) measured period of the
pendulum.