Physical quantities and

measurement techniques
Lesson’s outlines
- Define the physical quantities
- Describe the use of rulers and measuring cylinders to find a length or
a volume
- Prefixes and conversion of units
- Describe how to measure a variety of time intervals using clocks and
digital timers
Motivational questions

• What is the physical quantity?

• Can you give an example?

Physical quantity
• Physical quantities are measurable by an instrument or can be
derived.
• Consist of numerical value and unit.
 Basic quantities
• The basic quantities that can be measured in units are:

Length Mass Time Temperature

(m) (Kg) (m) (K)
Units of the basic quantities
• The units are standardized all over the world based on an
International system, known as SI unit
How to measure different objects in
Centimeter
Powers of ten shorthand

• For very large quantities such as the distance between the earth and
the sun (384400000 m) or very small quantities such as the size of
atoms (order of 0.0000000001 m) we can’t keep writing the numbers
in such a way because this causes difficulty in reading or recognizing
the numbers.

• The solution to this problem is using the powers of ten shorthand

Powers of ten shorthand

384400000 m 3.844 × m

0.0000000001 m 1× m
Multiples and submultiples
• Test your self, Page number 4
How to measure time intervals
How to measure time intervals

• Time intervals of many seconds or minutes can be measured using

stopwatches.
(b) What is the difference in the length of the candle?
….……………….(cm)
Measurement of time (average value for
small time interval)
• Measuring short time intervals causes less accuracy due to the
reaction time to press the button.

• Fortunately, in some experiments, there is a simple way of

overcoming the problems
• Whenever you take a measurement, it is always a good idea to take
multiple of the same measurement and find the mean, as it reduces
any inaccuracies.
• For example, if you were attempting to measure the diameter of a
circle with a ruler, measure the diameter as accurately as you can at
least three times from different angles. Then find the mean. This is
the value that should be used in any further calculations.
• Same thing for time – if you are measuring how long it takes for a
reaction to finish, for example, repeat the reaction multiple times
and calculate the mean.
 Measurement of time (Simple pendulum)
• If you’re trying to measure the period of a pendulum, however, the method to
find the mean time is slightly different.
• A pendulum is a mass that swings back and forth about a fixed point.
• One single oscillation of a pendulum is when it swings back to the exact same
position and achieves the same state of motion that it started at.
• For example, if the pendulum started swinging from its rightmost point (from
its position of maximum amplitude), the mass would have to swing towards the
left and then come back all the way to the right to complete one oscillation.
• If the start point is the middle, it would have to swing all the way in one
direction, all the way in the other direction, and then back to the middle to
complete one oscillation.
• The time taken to complete a single oscillation is called a period.
Measurement of time (Simple pendulum)

• To measure the period of a pendulum, you usually measure the time

taken for ten oscillations and then calculate the mean. That is, you
divide the total length of time by 10, to get the period of one oscillation.
This will reduce the error in measurement as human reflexes are usually
too slow to be completely accurate, and that inaccuracy can have a
major impact on something as small as a period.
Measurement of time (Simple pendulum)
Scalers and vectors quantities

• Scalar quantity can be fully described by the magnitude only.

• Vector quantity is a quantity that has magnitude and direction