1.
2 CONVERSION OF UNITS
CONVERTING UNITS
• Often, we are given a quantity with a mixed
set of unit of measurement
• It is required to use the same unit of
measurement in mathematical calculation!
10 𝑐𝑚+10 𝑖𝑛𝑐h =20 𝑖𝑛𝑐h
THIS IS WRONG!
CONVERTING UNIT
Example:
• Express the width of the table 25 inches to cm.
Step 1: Obtain the conversion factor
1 inch = 2.54 cm
CONVERTING UNIT
Example:
• Express the width of the table 25 inches to cm.
Step 2: Express the conversion factor
as fraction
1 𝑖𝑛𝑐h
2.54 𝑐𝑚
1 inch = 2.54 cm or
2.54 𝑐𝑚
1 𝑖𝑛𝑐h
CONVERTING UNIT
Example:
• Express the width of the table 25 inches to cm.
Step 3: Multiply it out and cancel out the unit
2.54 𝑐𝑚
25 𝑖𝑛𝑐h × =63 cm
1 𝑖𝑛𝑐 h
CONVERTING UNIT
Exercise:
• Convert 1516g of cotton ball to kg
• Convert 5200 mL of Coke to L
• Express
Practice questions
Convert the following unit
1) 9 inch to cm
Conversion factor:
2) 200 cm to inch 1 inch = 2.54 cm
1 lb = 0.45 kg
3) 200 lb to kg 1 hour = 3600 s
4) 80 kg to lb
5) 2.5 hour to seconds
Practice questions
Convert the following unit
1) 20 inch^2 to cm^2
Conversion factor:
2) 50 cm^2 to inch^2 1 inch = 2.54 cm
1 hour = 3600 s
3) 80 km/hr to m/s 1km = 1000m
4) 10 m/s to km/hr
UNCERTAINTY
• Getting accurate measurement are an
important part of physics.
• But there is no absolutely precise
measurement can exist
• There will always be uncertainty or degree of
error associated with every measurement.
• Uncertainty arises from different sources:
• Systematic errors
• Random errors
UNCERTAINTY
Systematic errors
• Error that is not introduce by chance but
introduced by inaccuracy of the measuring
system
• The measured error is consistent, and
repeatable
• Systematic error can result from:
• Incorrect position of zero points known as zero error
• Incorrect calibration of measuring instrument
UNCERTAINTY
• Zero error can arise when the measuring
instrument does not start from exactly zero.
• Instrument shows a positive or negative value
when nothing is measured.
UNCERTAINTY
• Calibration error can arise when the measuring
instrument is not maintained regularly and not calibrated
to a known value.
• E.g.
• Stiffness of the spring in the weighing balance changed due to
corrosion
• Meter rule expanded due to heat
• Calibration error can be minimized by
• Calibrate in ambient conditions
• Routine calibration (calibrate before using instrument)
• Automated calibration (using software for automatic updates)
UNCERTAINTY
UNCERTAINTY
Random error
• Error that is completely random, unpredictable and
cannot be replicated.
• Can occur due to:
• Inaccurate reading or measurement technique
• Random fluctuation such as wind blow, changes in temperature,
changes in humidity, electrical noise.
• Random error can be reduced by:
• taking repeated measurements
• A true random error will average out to zero if enough
measurements are taken and averaged (through a line of best fit)
• using a large sample
• controlling external variables.
UNCERTAINTY
Random error
Which value should you take?
How to improve measurement from random error?
CHARACTERISTICS OF
INSTRUMENT
Characteristics of the measuring equipment can
be categorised as:
• Precision
• Ability to measure consistent value
• Accuracy
• Ability to measure true value
Accuracy
• Accuracy is how close a measurement is to the
correct value for that measurement.
• For example, let us say that you are measuring the
length of standard computer paper. The packaging
in which you purchased the paper states that it is
11.0 inches long. You measure the length of the
paper three times and obtain the following
measurements: 11.1 in., 11.2 in., and 10.9 in.
• These measurements are quite accurate because they
are very close to the correct value of 11.0 inches. In
contrast, if you had obtained a measurement of 12
inches, your measurement would not be very accurate.
Precision
• The precision of a measurement system refers
to how close the agreement is between
repeated measurements (which are repeated
under the same conditions)
• Using the previous example, we know that the
lowest value of the paper length was 10.9 in.
and the highest value was 11.2 in. Thus, the
measured values deviated from each other by
at most 0.3 in. These measurements were
relatively precise because they did not vary
too much in value.
example
• A GPS system attempts to locate a
restaurant at the center of the bull’s-
eye. The black dots represent each
attempt to pinpoint the location of
the restaurant. The dots are spread
out quite far apart from one another,
indicating low precision, but they are
each rather close to the actual
location of the restaurant, indicating
high accuracy.
example
• In this figure, the dots are
concentrated rather closely to one
another, indicating high precision, but
they are rather far away from the
actual location of the restaurant,
indicating low accuracy.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
INSTRUMENTS
Identify the level of precision and accuracy of the following
bulls eyes diagram:
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
• Often the uncertainty in a measured value is
not specified explicitly.
• In such cases, the uncertainty is assumed to be
one or two unit of the last digit specified.
• For example:
• Measurement length of 5.2 cm has an assumed
uncertainty of ± 0.1 (or 0.2) cm.
• It is important that you DO NOT write 5.20 cm as it
would imply the measurement has an accuracy of ±
0.01 cm
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
• These stated digits in the numbers are reliable
for calculation which is known as number of
significant figures.
• Significant figures is a reflection of measuring
characteristics of the instrument
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
Significant figure rules
• All non-zero digits are considered significant
• 91 (2 s.f.)
• Zeros appear in the middle of non-zero digits are significant
• 9001 (4 s.f), 9.0001 (5 s.f.)
• Zero to the left are not significant
• 0.1 (1 s.f.), 0.00000000000001 (1 s.f.)
• Zero to the right of number containing decimal point are
significant
• 0.10000 (5 s.f.), 1000.00 (6 s.f.)
• (Special rule) Zero to the right of number NOT containing decimal
point may or may not be significant. It is dependent on the
accuracy of the instrument.
• 100 (1 s.f. or 2 or 3 s.f.)
Practice questions
• 6 (_ significant figure)
• 6.00 (_ significant figure)
• 0.006 (_ significant figure)
• 160 (_ or _ significant figure dependent on the
accuracy of the instrument)
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES IN
CALCULATIONS
• When doing calculation, AVOID keeping more digits
in the FINAL answer than is justified.
• For example, calculate the area of a rectangle 11.3
cm by 6.8 cm. The result of multiplication is 76.84
cm²
• However, the answer is implied to be accurate up to
0.01 cm², which is WRONG.
• The final answer would be 77 cm², which is up to 2
s.f.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES IN
CALCULATIONS
• It is good practice to keep the extra significant
figure DURING the calculation.
• AND present the FINAL ANSWER according to the
GIVEN least significant figures of a physical
quantities.
SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
• It is common in science to write numbers in “powers
of ten” to avoid confusion of significant figure.
• For example, it is not clear that measurement with
36900 has 3, 4, or 5 significant figures.
• With scientific notation, this confusion can be
avoided
• 3.69 x 10 4 has 3 significant figures
• 3.690 x 10 4 has 4 significant figures
• 3.6900 x 10 4 has 5 significant figures
Type of measurement
uncertainties
• Absolute uncertainties:
• The actual amount by which the quantity is uncertain, [Link] L = 6.0 ±
0.1 cm, the absolute uncertainty in L is 0.1 cm. Note that the absolute
uncertainty of a quantity has the same units as the quantity itself.
• Fractional uncertainty
• the absolute uncertainty divided by the quantity itself, [Link] L = 6.0 ±
0.1 cm, the fractional uncertainty in L is 0.1/6.0 = 1/60. Note that the
units cancel in this division, so that fractional uncertainty is a pure
number.
• Percent uncertainty
• fractional uncertainty expressed as a percent, i.e. fractional
uncertainty multiplied by 100. If L = 6.0 ± 0.1 cm, its percent
uncertainty is 1.7%
REPORTING UNCERTAINTIES
• When giving the results of a measurement, it is
important to state the uncertainties in the
measurement.
• For example:
• Ruler at the top has the smallest division
of 0.5 cm and measured to the nearest
division 4.5 cm
• 4.5 ± 0.5 cm
• Ruler at the bottom has the smallest
division of 0.1 cm and measured as
4.3 cm
• 4.3 ± 0.1 cm
• This reported uncertainties is called ‘absolute
uncertainties’
REPORTING UNCERTAINTIES
Percentage uncertainty
• The percentage uncertainty is the ratio of
uncertainty to the measured value, multiplied
by 100
𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦
% 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦 = × 100 %
𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
• For example:
• 4.5 ± 0.5 cm
• Percentage uncertainty is
0.5
% 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦 = ×100=11 %
4.5
REPORTING UNCERTAINTIES
Multiple measurement
• One way to improve the uncertainty is to
repeat the same measurement many times.
• The more measurement you take, the better
your estimate will be.
REPORTING UNCERTAINTIES
Multiple measurement example
• Alex took 5 multiple measurements of his
toddler’s weight. Calculate the average value
and uncertainties of his measurement.
15.5, 16.4, 16.1, 15.9, 16.6 kg
REPORTING UNCERTAINTIES
Multiple measurement example
• Step 1: Find average value
15.5+16.4+16.1+15.9+16.6
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒=
5
REPORTING UNCERTAINTIES
Multiple measurement example
• Step 2: Mean deviation
• Final Answer
16.08 ± 0.32 kg
COMBINING UNCERTAINTIES
Rules for combining uncertainties
• When physical quantities are + or –
• The ‘absolute uncertainties’ are added together
• When physical quantities × or ÷
• The ‘percentage uncertainties” are added together
• When physical quantities is multiplied by a
constant.
• The ‘absolute uncertainties’ are multiplied by the
constant, or
• The ‘percentage uncertainties’ does not change
Practice Questions
The measured length and width of a table is
50.6 ± 0.2 cm and 10.4 cm ± 0.2 cm
respectively.
Calculate the perimeter and surface area of the
table including its uncertainties.
